Yep, first one I took was Ninjutsu. Took that for some time before I became a Christian... about a year after becoming a Christian I realized that the philosophy of Ninjutsu wasn't lining up with Christian motivations.

So, eventually I found that one of the pastors at my church was a Master of a kung fu class called San Soo. So I've been training under him for a few years now because he's transformed the old philosophy of the art into a Christian teaching.

To be honest, no. =| My friend Katie tried getting me to take tae-kwon-do with her, but I never did. >.< Wish I had now though. 

I haven't, but I've always wanted to, so I could protect myself and others.
But it always seems as I don't have time for it.

No but I'm a white belt in Karate I barely go to practice now. =/

No,and now i dont care.unless theyre armed people wouldnt try it on me.

thenumberone : As I said a while back my Karate lessons were legitimately enjoyable which is something that unfortunately I cannot say much about from my teen years, for me being disabled and physically limited it was never about fighting for me. My father taught me self-defense through boxing when I was younger and I fell in love with the sport. As I said I write about it for a living. Karate did teach me some things about discipline and such that made me a better person.

As I’ve said if it were not for what I was going through at the time I would have continued with my training. It’s always good to know you can defend yourself if need be. For me it was always more important to try and carry myself in a classy professional manner than necessarily worrying about who may or may not try to pick a fight with me. As I mentioned a while back I did get into fights when I was in high school. I assumed what started most of the fights was that certain people who were trying to impress their “Friends” probably looked at me walking with a crutch by that time (Use to use two crutches and even a walker when I was younger.) as an easy target.

I for one never went to start any fights it was always a situation where I would be provoked physically into it. I won’t sit here and lie and say that I beat up the wannabe jocks every time but they knew that no matter what I was going to fight back the best I could. Because of my disability it affects the strength of my legs and my back so often I would look to take it to the ground where my legs wouldn’t be a factor. Like I said they assumed I was an easy target based on the fact that I was disabled.

For what it’s worth I never used my crutch in any fight that I wound up in. I always threw it down after often repeated attempts to resolve things peacefully. I never wanted to use it even though some thought I probably should have. I wanted it to be on even ground etc.

I don’t condone fighting and even if you watch Boxing or Mixed Martial Arts events it’s about the sport and not so much about the brutality of it. I recently began covering MMA this year and there is more emphasis on discipline, sportsmanship and, honor then some who’ve never seen an MMA or Boxing card may realize.

Although you may think that the only time you need to be prepared to defend yourself would be in an instance where someone is armed; it is always good to be prepared for anything really.
I don’t condone fighting as I said outside of the realm of sport but sometimes no matter how much you may try to reason with someone who is insistent on fighting you, sometimes you have to be ready to defend yourself and that’s regardless if you’re 6’9 and 300lbs of solid muscle or a smaller person.

bvd1022 : wow,it takes a special kinda scum bag to pick on someone with crutches

thenumberone : Most of the wannabe jocks I talked about didn’t expect me to throw the crutch down and more or less say in so many words here I am take your best shot etc. Like I said I don’t condone fighting outside of the realm of sport but sometimes like I said you don’t have a choice but to defend yourself.

While other kids were outside playing or watching cartoons I was watching tapes of Boxing, Wrestling and, Martial Arts so I wasn’t really expected to be able to defend myself. One of those things where looks can be deceiving and that you should never judge a book by it’s cover etc.

Despite my limitations if I had a chance I would love to box if I could get licensed. Even if it was a one night only kind of deal it would be worth it. Not only for myself in doing something I’ve wanted to do since I was a baby practically but also I think it would inspire people with disabilities and such to never give up etc. I know the odds are slim of that but if I didn’t have the limitations that I do I would be a boxer there’s no doubt about it. I’ve been writing though for coming up on 16 yrs and at least I can say I am in two sports I love as a journalist so it’s basically the best way to still be involved in the sport, or sports seeing as I’ve covered Boxing, Wrestling, and, MMA without taking the physical pounding that ones body has to go through competing in those sports.

I still want to break into broadcasting as well to go along with my writing and be a commentator for fights. I still have a goal of working a card at Madison Square Garden one day. I am from New York and have only been to The Garden twice in my life, neither were for a Boxing card. For a New York writer who covers Boxing for a living it’s a sin not to be able to go to a card in The Garden much less work it. That’s one thing I won’t feel satisfied with myself until I accomplish it.

I used to do Tae-Kwon-Do when I was 14. It was fun, but because we lived in a rural area, there wasn't many people doing it. Then we moved and there was no places near the new place we lived that I could do it, so I stopped.

I made it to brown belt in Tae Kwon Do, but then I had to quit when we moved.

I never really started it up again, because i forgot all the moves.

My stepdad used to teach Haganah or F.I.G.H.T.(Fierce Israeli Guerrilla Hand-to-Hand Tactics). It was a lot of fun. We had to stop because work got in the way for him. But it's nice to know that if someone were to try and mess with me I could hurt them.

i'm pretty sure Tae-Bo counts if not then no but my sister owns a taebo business and is friends with billy blanks

I have not. My brother did Taekwondo for a couple years, before he inevitably quit. He didn't get past Yellow belt, and when I went to some of his practices, it looked more like dancing then martial arts.

I got my first degree black belt in Tae Kwon do about 2 years ago. I've been doing it for more than 7 years.