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May 6, 2010

Last week, my black-belt friends and I met Grandmaster C. K. Choi, and, once again, he amazed me with his sparring techniques, his tough stories from the 1950s and 1960s and, more than anything, his wise words.

GM CK Choi has both brains and brawn, and he's taken a lot of abuse because he refused to get embroiled in North Korean politics and South Korean syndicates. He reminds me of the Tibetan urban monks I met when I hiked through the foothills of the Himilayas, except he's a fighting expert, too. Lucky for us, his Sparring Patterns will soon be available on DVD. I'll forward details as I get them.

In the meantime, his book, The Korean Martial Art of Tae Kwon Do & Early History (recently reprinted), contains newly added Sparring Patterns. His goal with the book is to relate the true history of Tae Kwon Do -- the true history of Olympic, North Korean and all types of TKD --which is a rarity these days. The book is available on his website (at the bottom of the page).

By the way, the people in the photo are (from left to right): Karen, Duane, Marc, me, Floyd, Grandmaster C. K. Choi, Master Di Vecchia, Martin, Alex, Talmon and Jason.