CAMARADERIE IN MARTIAL ARTS SBN Mary Cayte Reiland

Camaraderie in Martial Arts

SBN Mary Cayte Reiland

Camaraderie in the Martial Arts

SBN Mary C Reiland, USA

Tang Soo readers, happy December! I truly hope everyone reading things has a great holiday, whichever holiday you celebrate. This month, our topic of conversation is camaraderie. Camaraderie is defined as “mutual trust and friendship among people who spend a lot of time together.” Camaraderie cannot be avoided in the martial arts. Those that spend years training, sweating, bleeding, and working together develop a relationship that can only be defined as camaraderie. Today I will share some of my best stories of camaraderie with you.

The first instance where I really became aware of camaraderie was at my cho dan exam in 2011. We had a three day event, where we (meaning all black belts and cho dan bo) trained two consecutive evenings in a row (Thursday and Friday) and came back for our formal demonstrations on Saturday morning. It was a brutal yet beautiful event. We trained hard together for at least 3 hours each evening, then spent 5-6 hours on Saturday demonstrating. In those days, we supported, motivated and empowered each other. The day of our demonstrations, we cho dan bo had never been more in sync, it was as if we actually shared one mind and moved as one. Afterward, we celebrated. I mourn those days, as each year, our black belt tests got shorter.

I’ve heard that out of every 1,000 people that start martial arts, only 100 will make it to black belt, and only 10 of those will make it to the master level. I recall through the years moving up the ranks, the gaping holes that were left behind as people either quit, retired, moved away, or for any other reason gave up on their training. It was as though a piece of myself was missing without those people in the lineup every week, the spirit in the do jang was not the same. The burdens of camaraderie…

We continued to grow together as a group of martial artists as we started having outings and events outside the do jang. A group of us ladies would get together and do things like go bowling, have potluck house parties, or even see the occasional movie or stand-up comedy show.

After I became a Kyo Sa and found myself teaching more, I got in touch with other Kyo Sas and we found time to train together when the do jang was closed, mostly on Sundays. We helped each other to know our requirements and we also took time for fun activities like padded sword sparring. We asked permission before starting this of course, and someone always had a key to lock up afterward.

Meeting KJN Saavedra was the best instance of camaraderie in my life so far. I had never met a person who cared so much, who inserted himself into our lives and hearts as quickly as KJN did. This is why I continue to follow him, and always will.

After leaving the school where I trained for 11 years, I found myself missing my friends and the camaraderie we had, but these things are never truly lost. To this day, I’m still in touch with the people who I got close with during those 11 years. We may not train together anymore, but the spirit of those times still connects us.

First allow me to say that I hope each and every one of you finds the spirit and camaraderie that I have found in my 18 years. No one in the martial arts is an island, we need our teachers and fellow students to succeed. Open yourselves to the people around you, they will support and guide you through your journey. Happy holidays to all of you and as always, Tang Soo!!