Sunday, February 3, 2013

Han Moo Kwan Club 40th Anniversary Reflection - - Chief Instructor's Blog February 2013


Over forty years ago, a chance meeting between Mr. Bob Rainie and Mr. Ui Jung Kim at a gas station in Campbell led to a demonstration and then the birth of the Han Moo Kwan Club in Sunnyvale in February 1973.


Over the last forty years approximately 1000 people signed up and started in the Club. Of those, our records indicate, 582 have tested and reached at least the rank of Green Belt. Of those, 64 have reached at least the level of First Degree Black Belt. Brian Rainie, who started with the Club at its inception, continues to teach and support the Club. Jeff Burgess, who started as a teenager, was Chief Instructor for seven years and overall has been an active Club member for over 30 years. I have been with the Club nineteen years and I have been the Chief Instructor for the last five years.

For a Club that is not for profit, run strictly because people want to instruct and carry out the teachings of Mr. Kim, where people just show up to learn, this is really an amazing accomplishment, or is it?

In some ways, I would say it is. The Club is not-for-profit and we charge minimal fees to participate. All instructors volunteer their time; there is no monetary compensation for instructing. For some people, especially Westerners, if something does not cost a lot of money, they do not value the item or believe it is not an item to be valued. Yet, we have continuously had people that were willing to be instructors at the Club donating their time to share their knowledge and experience with others. And we have had people interested in joining for various reasons (a different activity to add to their repertoire for physical fitness, learn self-defense, always wanted to learn a martial art, etc) and maybe even willing to give it a chance due to the low cost.

In some ways, I am not amazed. We have no agenda at the Club other than to teach, learn and share a martial art. We are not in it to make money or to win tournaments. Our goal is to support people in their journey as a martial artist, becoming proficient mechanically and with enough force on all the techniques so they can defend themselves if the occasion arises, and eventually support students in learning the energy side which opens up a whole new aspect to the martial art. When an organization is committed to supporting and helping without an agenda, that organization will always attract people.

That chance meeting has led to an amazing outcome. Forty years of a community developing martial artists and sharing knowledge and experience of a martial art with no other agenda. Because of that, I believe the Club will continue to exist for a long time.

I hope all those that have passed through the Club’s dojang feel they have benefited from their time in the Club whether they studied with us for six months or twenty years.

For me personally, my life would be so much different had I not started studying and practicing at the Club. I want to personally thank Mr. Kim for sharing Han Moo Kwan, his instructors who taught him, Mr. Kim’s family for supporting him in sharing the art form, Mr. Bob Rainie and Mr. Gary Murray for starting the Club, my instructors Mr. Brian Rainie, Mr. Jeff Burgess, Mr. Don Spears, Mr. Bob Ramirez, and Mr. Mike Marinos for their generosity in sharing their insights with me, and all the students who show up, work out and teach me as well.

"The teaching of one virtuous person can influence many; that which has been learned well by one generation can be passed on to a hundred." ~ Jigoro Kano (1860-1938), founder of Judo

Regards,
Kelly