I have mentioned in my blog several times, how just about everybody can borrow life lessons from the world of sports, and apply them to their own lives, especially in dealing with adverse situations. So instead of just talking in general terms, I thought I’d reflect back on a specific sports oriented lesson I learned, although, at the time when it occurred, I didn’t realize how valuable it would be.
The specific learning scenario took place when I was training in Kung Fu, which is now just referred to as Kick Boxing. I was being taught by the Twin Dragons Kick Boxing and Kung Fu Club, which is owned and operated by Mic and Martin McNamara. They spent their early years in life, growing up as Irish Catholics in Belfast, Northern Ireland, so you know that they had to be tough in that environment. Their original club at the time , in 1973, was on Yonge Street in Toronto, just north of Sheppard Avenue, in the north part of the city. I was a grade 13 high school student at the time, at Toronto’s Forest Hill Collegiate, and a very skinny 150 pounds. I was hoping to learn self defense, and put on a little muscle. Little did I realize back then, the life long lessons I would take in by joining for the very reasonable price of $12 per month.
Initially I was apprehensive, as I was surrounded by a very wide diversity of people, with backgrounds as varied, as the solar system is unending. At the Twin Dragons Club, you could meet lawyers, doctors, bikers, teenagers, and even some 50 year olds. (scary…that’s what I am now !!!!) As I started working out more frequently, the life long lessons began to take hold. I realized that I could fit in with any group of people, no matter how different we all were in our backgrounds and beliefs. The one thing, that we all believed in common, was that we were training with the best instructors in the city. The Twins were legendary for their skill and toughness. The workouts were very rigorous, and when the weather got warm and eventually hot, we were training in a very sweaty room with a small air conditioner. The classes were so intense, that I could ring the sweat out of my shirt, as though it had just come out of the swimming pool. My knuckles were calloused from the push ups we all did on them. At school, I would get some respect from the other guys, who knew I was working out at Twin Dragons, and they also knew of the their reputation as fighters. By the time summer came around, I was training 4 or 5 times a week. I felt really good and was in terrific shape,
The best learning experience I ever had at Twin Dragon, was getting the stuffing knocked out of me ( a bit of an exaggeration…) in a sparring match with a great fighter. Little did in know when Dave Paul invited me to spar with him , that he was an experienced martial artist, who had already become a black belt in another discipline. It took about 5 seconds for Dave to knock me down, and finish me off. I obviously didn’t enjoy it, and at the time was upset about it. Years later, I realized that it was a blessing in disguise, and it taught me more about defending myself, than I could have learned in challenging a less skilled fighter than Dave. I never went looking for fights, but years later, I was in an organized hockey league and was dealing with one individual who thought it was funny to continually cross check me from behind into the boards, and then laugh afterwards. So I though it was time for me to teach this guy a lesson. As we skated up the ice, I grabbed this persons sweater, locked down one of his arms, and threw as many jabs into his face as I could. He was more embarrassed than hurt, but I achieved my goal. I never was cross checked again by him or any one else.
The life long lessons were about feeling comfortable with much different people, and getting along. They were also about achieving goals through hard work, practice, and discipline. Of equal importance, was understanding that some of the greatest learning experiences came through failure, as in getting whacked in a sparring match by a vastly superior fighter. The determination I felt to never let that happen again, and to get back up after being knocked down, and to learn and become better because of a lopsided defeat, pays dividends to this day. I didn’t get my first on air job in radio until I was 37, which is unusually late in life in that field.There was no way I was giving up on that goal, because I wanted to prove that all those stations and program directors who doubted me, were completely wrong. After 17 years of being a dominant name in the Toronto radio market, and achieving top ratings, I was proven right. What a great feeling that was and still is.I never wrote very much, until I started doing so for my website last summer, and that has been a blessing as well, as we begin to approach website sponsors. I’ve got other challenges ahead of me as well now, but I understand that strength of character, determination,discipline, and a never say die attitude, can not be defeated by adversity, it can only be interrupted. With that in mind, my late father, Murray, taught me, that if you can’t get over the mountain, go around it, under it, through it, but never give up or quit, no matter how dire the circumstances may seem.
I was blessed to learn some incredible life lessons, not only from my mother and father, but also through my favorite Irish-Canadians, the Twin Dragons, Mic and Martin McNamara.