A multitude of martial arts is all around us
On a cold Saturday evening at the Chattanooga Convention Center I watch as three-foot and shorter fighters kick and punch re-breakable boards with the intensity of focused monks at prayer. Proud parents and an equally proud sensei look on in groups, some cheer and clap, others nod stoically. Medals are awarded, hugs, handshakes and praises are given in abundance.
A sense of competition is there but also a greater sense of community and cooperation. I snake my way around blue square mats arranged in islands surrounded by folding chairs that are empty, everyone is standing, everyone is involved.
This is one of two annual tournaments held by Rick Hall’s Tiger Martial Arts, one of the largest and oldest Taekwondo institutions in the city. At thirty-one years in operation and with numerous sister dojos spread around Tennessee and Alabama, Rick Hall is a household name around town. There are other names though; any cursory Google search of “martial arts in Chattanooga” will render over seventeen results with a few one-night-a-week dojos operating out of garages and churches.
I stand with Chance McDaniel, a buddy from college, and now a full-time instructor at Rick Hall’s in Hixson. We watch the kids break boards and get into stances on blue mats, preparing themselves for the next rounds. Though we haven’t seen each other in a few years, we settled into a comfortable familiarity as we chatted over our shared ideas of martial arts around the city. To Chance, the decision to live a disciplined life of individual merit with the rush of fighting competitions was all he needed to fall in love with Taekwondo at the age of twelve.
“Team sports are great, don’t get me wrong, but with martial arts it’s all about the individual’s effort and dedication to training. There is something about the responsibility that makes you a stronger person which in-turn makes the teams or dojos stronger, and that is evident at events like these,” Chance said.
Chance’s journey with martial arts had me thinking about my own relationship with martial arts though it has been a strange one. I’ve never been formally trained to any degree but I’ve done Shotokan kata (exercises) on the beaches of Okinawa, Tai Chi in a town called Hinoko and sparred with the godfathers of the Marine Corps Martial Arts Program (MCMAP) with some krav maga sprinkled along the way. I’ve had my butt whooped by some of the best and know enough to be dangerous in a pinch if my talking skills fail; thankfully they haven’t.
But my Berserker approach to self-defense was spawned from necessity rather than desire to become a better person. Where I grew up in the eighties and nineties, you either fought or got your ass handed to you on a daily basis. Sure, after the Karate Kid there was a boom of dojos sprouting up in America but none where I had lived.
Bullying was just part of my world, just a fact of life that parents in my neck of the woods dealt with by instilling harsher beatings should you come home beaten. It was brutal times and even more so if you were a skinny shy boy who liked comic books. With no true access to disciplined training you had to improvise, adapt, and be meaner than the kids messing with you. I learned if you hit fast, hard, and with complete conviction and total disregard for pain or consequences then you got left alone.
At twelve years old I learned how to weaponize raw aggression, it would be twelve more years before I learned to control it and another twelve before I’d have mastery over it. The times between could’ve saved me some grief, some fights that I should’ve walked away from to fights I should’ve followed through on.
I wonder sometimes what my life would’ve looked like had I the same access to a karate or jiu-jitsu dojo when I was a kid. These days it’s never been more accessible with many locations being a one stop shop for all things martial and all things art.
There are fight fitness locations which specialize in getting in brutal shape without all of the sparring business. Then there are the serious life-or-death dojos that have a mix of professional fighters and police officers that are students and part-time Sensei; these offer a lot of sparring and hands on with high degrees of practical applications.
Traditional avenues of martial arts can be found at dojos like Green’s Karate.
Corey Green brought his professional karate experience from Soldotna, Alaska to Chattanooga back in 2003. Corey is a strong sensei who radiates kindness and enthusiasm wherever he goes. He is a man that lives, eats, and breathes karate. Green’s Karate is a humble dojo right off Hixson Pike near North Access Road.
But don’t be fooled by its stature, this great little dojo has been nationally recognized a few times over on CNN and in the karate community as a dojo that makes history. Students like Brandon Earnshaw who is the first person in history to compete in the U.S. Karate non-handicap division as a child with autism back in 2005. Or students turned instructors like Ryan Rogers who competed internationally, breaking trends and records like breaking sheets of pine board.
I’ve seen it with my own eyes, the miraculous transformation that happens under Corey’s tutelage on those mats for both adults and children of all ages. Sensei Green developed his own patented techniques for specialized instructions that can work with anyone willing to dedicate the time and patience to embracing a more traditional martial art form.
Besides all the accolades and history setting trends, Green’s Karate is the real deal for anyone seeking to embrace the traditional techniques that could help navigate today’s untraditional world.
I got to witness the rise of mixed martial arts culture, which in turn had reignited a new love affair with smashing faces and slapping mats across the world, which also has led people into living lives seeking greater body control, healthier lifestyles, and total domination of both the battlefield on the streets and in the mind.
Nothing has as much hype and sheer brutal effectiveness like Gracie jiu-jitsu. Made popular by the Gracie family during the rise of the UFC, it is now as ubiquitous as Cross-Fit and Christian Churches with jiu-jitsu dojos absorbing much of the real estate.
Chattanooga Jiu-Jitsu Academy is a spacious five-thousand square foot building looming over Hixson pike like a windowed colossus. It’s the jiu-jitsu mecca and yes it requires every bit of that space to ensure the tumbling is safe and the training is effective. The Jiu-Jitsu Academy has a packed schedule six days a week and offers a wide range of self-defense classes for anyone not afraid to experience a brutally effective form of martial arts.
From a knuckle dragging laymen such as myself, jiu-jitsu from the outside looks like mat wrestling with extra steps. However there is a tight physical and mental conditioning that goes on with every build up to a tumble session. It’s an addictive martial art and with the right group of instructors and sparring partners, Gracie jiu-jitsu lives up to every ounce of hype and praise rightfully given.
Chance looks over the dwindling crowds as the evening comes to a close. Rick Hall’s Tiger Martial Arts operates independently from any international restrictions or governing policies. According to Chance this ability to remain free to keep things practical serves the martial arts well because it can be adapted and taught in much broader terms.
“Koreans have kept a more sports-oriented version of Taekwondo under tight grips and it looks great as a sport but that’s where the functionality ends. Being independent means each individual dojo can perfect or incorporate other techniques to ensure more well-rounded fighting styles,” Chance said.
I pay my respects to Grand Master Hall on my way out. After forty-one years of living Taekwondo, Rick Hall has a gleam in his eye and a mighty powerful handshake. There's not much that will slow this ninth-degree black belt down. He along with the many other masters and senseis in Chattanooga are living a dream. And that dream is inspiring others to rise up to challenge themselves and reach beyond what they ever could believe was possible for their lives.
After a while it’s not even about fighting but more so about philosophy. Philosophy steeped in the most ancient and practical notions that serve us better as human beings by building connections to the mind, body, and spirit of who we are and what we are capable of.
Martial arts of any kind of origin is about being on a journey, a journey that is like a multi-mouthed river that feeds into a grander ocean of truth salted with the wisdom of time.
Chattanooga, our beloved scenic city, also serves as the headspring that can nourish any soul seeking a better way to navigate this ever-uncertain world.