Karate Kick for Revenge!
We all want to have the hardest punch, the hardest kick, the best block. We want to know that, in the event of muggery, thuggery or whatever, we can get the job done. What we don’t want is to be on the receiving end of a world class slobberknocker.
The fellow who delivered this dastardly front snap kick to my apples was my friend and fellow karate student. His name was Gary, and we were freestyling, and I threw a kick, he parried, and he side kicked me in the ribs. It was a powerful, classic strike, and I could feel my ribs bending, and it was the hardest strike I had ever experienced in the martial arts.
Truth, to this day, I have no idea why my ribs didn’t break. I couldn’t breath, couldn’t talk, and I should have stopped and taken a breather, told Gary to kick with less force, seen to my protection. Being young, dumb, and full of…vigor, I continued on the path to destruction.
Cleverly, I turned to the other side and continued to do Karate freestyle. I kept my range, circled, went tactical, and after a minute I could breath. Then I did something very stupid, I attacked.
I thought I was recovered enough, and I threw a side kick. Gary scooped the side kick with a parry and launched his own side kick. He was shorter than me, and his kick came up, struck me in the groin and lifted me off the ground.
Three decades later, on a trip to the doctor for a routine checkup, he noticed that one of my testicles was shrunk. Yup, I knew that, and I knew as the doctor made his observation exactly when and why. That second kick that Gary threw was the hardest strike I have ever experienced, it would have broken my ribs, but it didn’t hit my ribs, instead, it just squashed my apples.
At the time, I just continued to fight, survival mode kept me on my feet, but I had paid the price for his lack of control. He left the school, actually went to another school and taught, and then, six months later, he came back. I had not left, I had continued learning, and I had accomplished something I call Coordinated Body Motion, CBM.
All parts of the body move as one unit, and it is slow at first, but once one gets it, it is not just fast, it breeds intuitive responses. Freestyling with Gary at this later time I began kicking him, and kicking him, and kicking him, he didn’t have CBM, didn’t have intuitive responses, and he couldn’t block my kicks. I kicked his ribs until they bent, but I didn’t go beyond, I didn’t give him my own hardest kick. He was, after all, my friend, and though friends make mistakes, they should always watch out for each other.
this story is funny and sad. Hope ur okay
Got two kids, thanks, but even the memory of that kick hurts.
you do not email things, but I need to know how to get a link so I can daolnwod what I bought. Sorry about the hassle, and I have a couple of questions after reading your website. Jean