July 2007 Newsletter

Please share with our readers a little bit of your non-martial arts background.

I was born in Korea and moved back and forth several times between there and the U.S. while growing up. After finishing college in Philadelphia, I took a job up in the Princeton area working in an industrial supplies warehouse (picture home depot). Currently, I'm back in school at UPenn, pursuing a master's degree in education and teaching certification in high school English.

How did you first become interested in Martial Arts?

When I was 13, my parents hoped that I would focus on school in a strict, all-girls school in a very rural part of the country. I was sent to a boarding school in the cornfields of Illinois , where, unfortunately, many of the girls who had dropped out of inner-city Chicago schools commingled. The so-called gang members picked on small kids in school, and I was a popular choice to push around. Comically, one very big girl even sat on me and tried to choke me; I remember feeling very helpless during these situations. I promised myself that when I got out of school one day, I would learn to defend myself from bullies. (Or to run away very fast from them).

How did you first hear about PAMA and what was your motivation for coming to PAMA?

People were a slightly more mature in college and there were no bullies anymore, but I still felt vulnerable especially while living in West Philadelphia . My roommate in college was the president of the school's kickboxing club, and she kept encouraging me to check out martial arts. When I moved to the Princeton area, I looked up schools to learn what I thought would be basic kickboxing; PAMA turned out to be five minutes away from my place, and has also turned out to offer so much more than simply kicking and punching!

Could you talk a little about martial arts and PAMA from a woman's perspective? What advice would you give a woman thinking of joining?

As a woman with no prior martial arts experience before coming to PAMA, I feel that there were advantages and disadvantages that I had in the beginning of martial arts training. The disadvantage was that I had to break through a certain mindset of having been raised to be a timid, non-aggressive female especially in the Korean culture. Growing up, my parents turned the channel when martial arts movies or boxing came up on TV, so I had no idea what I was coming into at PAMA. The advantage, however, was that I feel like I was introduced to great women role models from the get-go. I saw how potentially skilled and powerful a woman could be in instructors like Guro Amy and Mary Jo. I have no delusions about out-punching a big guy, but I do try to take the advice about using a woman's flexibility or quickness to heart.

The advice I would give to women thinking of joining is to be reassured that Sifu and the other instructors provide a supportive, yet realistic environment for women to train in; women are encouraged, just like the men, to push themselves to the max without being coddled or treated as just weak females. All the other PAMA members are very supportive in helping you develop, regardless of gender.

What are your favorite arts and why?

Although I feel like I haven't even scratched the surface of Jun Fan, the flexibility and diversity of the art amaze me. There seems to be a technique adaptable to every situation which renders it practical for the everyday world. Kali, at first, made me feel that I had two left hands and no right one; however, I'm beginning to see the powerful grace and beauty in the art which make me enjoy Kali much more.

What do you see as some of your goals in the martial arts and in your life in general?

My overall goal in martial arts is to achieve grace with technical proficiency. Finding myself huffing and puffing in grappling or forcing a trapping makes me realize I'm lacking both controlled grace and the technicality. My biggest focus now is to learn to "flow" and learn the details that really make each move work without resorting to brute force (which never seems to work anyway). For life in general, learning the martial arts was a big step in gaining more self-empowerment. I feel much less like the cowardly 13 year old who was afraid of being picked on and much more like I'm wearing the "fight face" that Sifu says he sees on me during class!

Is there anything else that you would like to add?

Thank you to Sifu and everyone else for your patience while helping me develop! The instructors were very patient in dealing with my clumsiness and questionable hand-eye coordination abilities; I appreciate all your help!