Here’s to Learning to Fall and Fly Correctly

Almost every male you’re likely to come across will tell you that at some stage of his life he would have done some form of martial arts, boxing or wrestling. Most males will also admit that they don’t feel it did anything for them but to be a fun past time. There are those however where martial arts, boxing and or wrestling has made a major impact on their lives, whether good or bad.

I won’t bore you with my life story but I am somebody who has done boxing and karate in my life time and believes it’s because of those disciplines that I have managed to avoid serious injury in accidents. My fondest memory of bike riding was when I became quite proficient at riding on my racing bike, i.e. going at full tilt for more than 5km’s without needing to rest. It was a beautiful sunny school day with clear visibility and radiant sunshine, so I can’t even use the weather as an excuse.  We had a very steep hill near where I used to stay which I loved racing down at top speed in trying to beat the robot, which I will admit beat me on one or two occasions. On this particular day I was zooming down at full speed with my well greased wheels whirring, the wind whipping through my hair and the open manhole waiting to meet me. I could swear I saw my life flash before my eyes as I hit that man hole and in a very relaxed state flew over the handle bars with the wind still whipping through my hair and doing one of those rolls that I had spent hrs practicing in karate class, I then did a matrix style move and the bike avoided taking my face off by mere millimeters. I got up, dusted myself off, found that I was in no way harmed, not even scratched and carried my bike with its bent wheel home. Apart from childhood fun I believe martial arts saved my life again when as an adult I had a terrific accident when going down the highway at 130km’s an hr my front left tire burst and immediately sent the car rolling 9 times. I’ll admit that while everything was happening I only saw the roof, windscreen and steering wheel repeatedly and at to close for comfort quarters. Amazingly the lessons I learnt in those sometimes painful classes came to the fore and I automatically and sub consciously relaxed my entire body. I got out of the accident with minor cuts and bruises a bit of whiplash and of course a bit shaken. I was back on my feet again in a few minutes though and was running round the car finding was to help my sister who, although not badly hurt was bleeding from various places.

So next time moms you decide that martial arts might not be for your little girl or boy then look at this article and think a bit more on the subject, what they learn in those classes may save their lives someday.