So you must be wondering why the heck I have flaming
knives in the background. Well, the class tonight was a special mixed
class, which means thatt all martial arts disciplines were invited to
participate. It featured guest instructors Dr. Norman Link (5th Dan Black-Belt
in Hankido) and Master Rick Powell (5th Dan Black-Belt in Taekwondo).
The topic was supposed to be knife-defenses (Ah-hah!), but Master Powell
covered knife attacks instead. His logic is that you cannot defend against
a knife-wielding assailant if you do not know what their attack methods
are. Makes sense to me!
So now, I am going to digress and talk a little about Master Rick Powell.
I first met Master Powell at the Workshop
for World Taekwondo Families in Korea that took place June 13th through June 23rd, 1998. Rick reminds me very
much of Dr. Norman Link. Both are top-notch in their skills, but so friendly
and approachable and with such a great sense of humor that you sometimes
forget that they are venerable martial arts masters and can kill you. It
may be a deadly mistake one day if one of them becomes angry, although I doubt
very much that I will ever see that day! One memory I took away from the
Workshop
for World Taekwondo Families
was Master Powell lying on his stomach in front of the class during
the session on massaging. In pointing out a particular pressure point, the
instructor pulled down Master Powell's shorts to reveal his bare bottom.
The surprised expression on Master Powell's face was priceless (although I
am certain he'd disagree!) To add insult to injury, the instructor asked a
volunteer to go up to poke at the pressure point in question. Master Powell
was a picture of righteous indignation as Nancy Vuong busied herself poking
at the pressure point on his bottom. You just have to be there!
The knife attacks Master Powell covered ranged from the stereotypical
stab to uppercut slashes. Going through the motions, it is not hard to
imagine the kind of damage some of the moves would create with a real knife.
The imaginary blood gushes from the imaginary wounds.
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