my years at west-wind

**afronaut** · Posted On: 6/20/2005 12:05am

Damn. You must have some fucking harrowing stories. Do share.

Nice post. Stick around.

**nikyu** · Posted On: 6/20/2005 12:22am

Hi folks I am back, I am new to this so be patient with me please......is this where I can continue my story? In the quick reply, or do I need to start another thread?

**FighterJones** · Posted On: 6/20/2005 12:26am

yeah, right here ya can :)

**DuckofDeath** · Posted On: 6/20/2005 12:43am

Hot-diggity!

**nikyu** · Posted On: 6/20/2005 1:36am

ok, cool thanks....I believe I left off last with my first year or so at west-wind. I was at the school close to home (daly city) for about 4 or 5 years. I guess the money thing started to get to me after about 2 years, but I was so into it, that I just went along like a brainless robot. I got paid every two weeks, and they were the very first money paid out. I remember on day in particular......every year they would have a "black belt demo" where all us pee-ons had the privlage to see them in all their glory. We were not allowed to watch a teacher working out, so this was the one chance a year where students could see them....anyway...I remember talking to the head guy...lets call him MR.S....and he was telling me it would cost like $200 per student to go to the demo...and that was times 3 as it was not just me, but my daughters too....and of course you had to go, what kind of a student were you if you didn't go??? I asked mr.s jokeingly if they were having a fund raiser...I thought it was funny...but he replied.." well, ms. t (that's me) it's not about the price...it's about how willing you are to part with your money" I laughed..kind of...then coughed up the money the next payday. From then on I looked at them differently, but I was very into the art, and I would guess I was maybe a purple belt at this time...or green, hard to remember, that I just went on with my training...I loved it...the katas..the defensive moves, it was very cool, and I was pretty good too, I was never great, not very smooth, and my kicks sucked because by this time I had had surgury on the knee I blew out the first year I was there....the other knee was also damaged from an injury from years back, not related to karate, so both knees with ACL reconstruction, and I was still thinking I could get my black belt....yah right.

I kept plugging along, giving them every dime I had...not paying other bills, getting further in debt...you see...they let me pay bi-monthly, so I never had to come up with a big chunk of money. They would tell me I was special because they didn't let other students do it that way.hmmmmm....lucky me...lol

The daly city school was different from the other schools in the system...we were small..only about 150 students maybe less...we weren't the best, but we had heart, a ton of heart. We always got beat in the yearly tourneyment (which was just between the west-wind schools by the way) and I was considered one of the leaders of that school, I was shown alot of respect from other students, and most of the teachers. One of the teachers would even break the "secret handshake" rule, and when he shook my hand, he would grasp my hand with both of his.....never if other teachers were around of course.....lol, he would have gotten in alot of touble for that.

well, I kept going, working out like a mad woman, then while getting ready for my green belt test(doing what they call formating) kind of like a practice test....I tore my planter facia, the tendon that runs across the heel...was doing a quarter staff kata...over and over and over again...then it just went POP!!!...ouch, god, hurt like hell. needless to say, I got a bit lost in the form, but did try to keep going, as I had been told for years that the best students don't dare show any pain. MR.S finally called break, and I stopped, told him I thought I hurt my heel somehow. For the next 6 weeks I worked out in a camwalker in my foot.....and missed my green belt test...I insisted to them that I could do it, even with the bulky thing on my foot, but was told that it didn't look nice, and the "black belt board" certainly didn't want to watch me test in that thing. So I waited, healed, and got ready to try to test again....and I did it...woo hoo for me....That was my last test as a daly city student.

The school was taken over by another teacher...a former west-wind teacher...and he was the biggest ass I ever met...daly city was no longer west-wind. So, being the loyal student I started commuting to Berkeley with my two girls ( my son trained for a bit but quit at the purple belt, guess he saw through all the crap...smart boy) Berkeley was huge, student body wise...it was cold, and I never felt comfortable there, I didn't really know any of the students, and most of the teachers I really liked had left the system by then. By the way...in the 6 years my oldest daughter was there, she had 14 different teachers. We spent about a year there before my girls started gripping that they didn't want to go anymore, but I made them continue, I mentioned their wanting to quit to mr.s, and he said"what if you let them quit now...and next month they get raped, how would you feel then" well, they were both green belts by then, and I thought that was an odd thing to say...after all...wasn't this the best system out there? weren't we told time and time again that a purple belt at west-wind, was like a black belt anywhere else? and here he was telling me my girls might be raped if they stopped training. By now I had lost all respect for the west-wind teaching staff, but I kept it to myself...I enjoyed the training, and I was learning some really cool stuff. And I must correct myself at this point....I still had respect for one teacher..... Mr. F, to this day I hold the utmost respect for him, he was a father and husband first, you could just tell that about him. He was one of those teachers who would totally kick you ass in a lesson, but you would leave feeling like you were just given a puppy, he was also, I feel, the best west-wind had to offer. A few months later I let my girls quit, I continued...I had a brown belt test to get ready for.............

**Poop Loops** · Posted On: 6/20/2005 1:57am

I think he ment BJJ. A purple belt in BJJ is like a Black Belt in most other systems. Maybe you were doing BJJ and didn't even know it?

About the whole "what if you let them quit now...and next month they get raped, how would you feel then" thing. How do you THINK I'd feel if my daughters got raped? What an ass.

Also, you'd expect the training up to that point to be useful at least...

Anyway, you've had 2 ACL reconstructions? Ouch. But that doesn't mean you can't get good. A guy I train with blew his ACL out, and he's still doing fine now. He can grapple, kick, punch, etc. I don't see any problems with him. Will he ever be a black belt? Who cares? That's not what you should be shooting for.

PL