Luck....

Today I wanted to discuss a theme I hear a lot these days. That is the aspect of luck that some people think that I have an abundance of.  I am told from time to time what a lucky fellow I am.... I have a beautiful wife, a great job, great kids, an awesome grandson, and I have a great facility.

I am so lucky to be able to train with the Seo family, to be a personal student of Carlos Machado and his brothers, and to have trained with Dr. He Young Kimm.  I got lucky with the deal I got on my tractor or my truck.  I am lucky to have the friends and students that I have that have my back and are there to support me.

Let me be the first to acknowledge the grace God has bestowed upon me, without him I am nothing and would have nothing.  Everything else would be vanity, a false hope, an illusion, meaningless without the gift of Jesus at Calvary.  I fail God daily but he has never failed me.

That being said, what many people refer to as luck has been through a deliberate and determined course of action.  It took me years of effort, hard work, and struggle to build our school.  It didn't just fall into my lap.  I took the actions necessary and spent the money and sweat it took to get it built. 

When I took my school out of the World Hanmudo Association I realized that it was no easy task to find a Korean Hapkido esque Grandmaster of Dr. Kimm's stature and ability.  I pursued a student teacher relationship with the family of Grandmaster In Sun Seo because he was one of the few who out ranked Dr. Kimm and had the skill and knowledge to take our Hapkido to the next level.

Frank Caracci, Mike Reed, and I decided to learn Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and bring it back to our schools.  There were other reputable BJJ black belts much closer and more accessible than Carlos who lives in Dallas. None were of comparable rank and skill level.  He was an 8th degree black belt, at the time, and is the nephew of the founder of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.  I have been making the long trek to Dallas ever since and black belt is now getting almost within view....

I have been able to get good deals on a number of things lately including my truck and tractor.  Part of this comes from knowing a lot of people and being able to borrow the money when I needed it.  If you live within your means then you will be much more able capitalize on a deal when luck smiles upon you.

God has blessed me with my wife, kids, grandson, and family.  I still have some family members I would just as soon not claim but I think everyone one does.  You take the good with the bad and deal with the rest.

The moral of the story is set your goals and do whatever you need to do(within reason and without sacrificing your morals) to achieve your goal.  I have a student who is set on making the olympics and if he can keep his mind on judo and not girls he has a really good shot of making it.

Pick Your Battles

This past Saturday we took a crew of competitors to Sensei Jim Hunt and Sensei Ken Altman's Judo Tournament on the MS Gulf Coast. We did well with 6 out of 9 competitors placing first, 2 competitors placing second, and one of our newest players did not place. We won the second place team trophy as well.

 

All in all it was a very good day with one or two exceptions. The National Referee was a bit disrespectful to the United States and also to the coaches and competitors. Later in the day he overturned a center referee's call about 15 minutes after the match and ended and after my student had already won another match. I didn't dispute his decision but the timing was terrible. It should have been done much sooner.

 

Then when the two kids fought again, my student lost to a bad call. Let me take a side trip here... there were basically 2 center referees working all day by themselves, so they were doing the best that they could. I then disputed the call when my student lost, the other kid's coach agreed with me, the National Referee sent word to me that he could not overturn the center referee's decision and I lost my mind because his overturning the other match led to this.

 

This was the first time at a Judo tournament that I have ever lost it with a tournament director. He was caught in the middle and I had to apologize to him, the center referee, and the other tournament director. I still believe I was right in my assessments but I did a terrible job handling it. I didn't represent my club, the art of Judo, or my Christian faith in the way that I should have.

Now some of my other students and parents may be wondering why I have never stepped up for you or your kids before due to bad calls at tournaments. There are several reasons so let me go thru them:

1. Life isn't fair, I want my students to know this and be able to deal with it when things don't go their way.
2. If someone always comes to the students rescue, (the parents or the coaches) then they will come to expect always having someone else rush to their aid. I want my students to be more self reliant and self sufficient.
3. Almost all of the referees are volunteer. They are donating their time and money so that you and your kids can have a tournament. They are doing the best that they can and of course some do better than others. The ones that were working Saturday always do a good job but mistakes will happen.
4. Even if the referee is terrible, chances are you will have to compete in front of them again. Making them hate me, you, or our dojo is not to our benefit.
5. If you leave the decision up to the referee or the judges then don't complain about the outcome. Make the victory decisive enough that there is no question.

So even though I had an outburst at this last tournament it is not going to become a habit, and I am not going to dispute a lot of calls.