Gifted

Karate is a great activity for someone gifted, like me, but how about regular folks.

To be good at Karate, it helps to be athletic, flexible, strong, fast, have a good memory, and have great posture and balance.

It is even possible succeed without being athletic. I have never played a team sport, or even a solo one. Can't sink a basket, or hit a ball. Wasn't exactly the last kid picked for games in PE, but was always darn close. Karate became my first sport. Sadly, my lack of physical grace meant that none of it came naturally to me. No problem. Learning and then repeating a technique a few zillion times covers for this somewhat. Helps if a Sensei is there to make the tiny corrections so badly needed.

Can’t possibly do well without flexibility, though. Look at me. My mom’s side of the family is normal this way, but my dad’s? Oh my goodness. My sister also received the curse. You could call us the zombie people. Except we don’t eat brains, and zombies are more bendy. I’ve worked for decades trying to be as flexible as possible, which isn’t very flexible at all. I’ll never be a high kicker. Good part is I don’t need to be. I can put my foot deep inside your guts. Just try me.

Everybody knows stronger is tougher than weaker. That’s true in Karate as in most things. My awesome upper body strength had been cunningly disguised by my wet spaghetti arms. Never have added any bulk, but over time have learned to use every scrawny single muscle cell. Still can’t lift a lot, but can make a heavy bag swing like there’s no tomorrow.

Fast would be nice. I don’t have that either. The type of fighter I most admire is the wily counter-puncher. I’ll never be one of those as my reaction time is just not up to it. Science used to say you can’t improve reaction time, but they’ve since recanted. Good thing, cuz I swear that all that practice has made me significantly faster. Not fast enough to be my beloved counter puncher, but faster non the less. I therefore have adapted to a style that doesn’t rely heavily on waiting for an opponent to go first.

It really helps to have a good memory, just to learn all the information. I’d say my memory is top notch, not for shopping lists and such, but for learning Kata. If I get attend one class where a Kata is covered, I usually have it. At least in a rough form. This is perhaps my one big gift in Karate, and all the Kata movement skill has helped me big time in real life. My wife and I have taken many ballroom dancing lessons. Helen has a really hard time learning stuff like that, so normally it was my job to learn my part of the dance, and to learn her part, and then to teach her her part. Many of my friends have struggled with the memory stuff in Karate, but the endless repetition helps them.

Posture and balance? I a sloucher, and used to fall down a lot.

I am a Black Belt, with none of the requirements except for memory.

It should be easier for you.