Originally, i wasnt even looking for a martial art. I was regularly taking sports photographs for my university newspaper and at the end of my first undergraduate year, a course mate asked if i would come along to a martial art class he was involved with and take some photos for the fresher bazaar.

I was quite happy to do this and, as it was the summer term, their first session was a Saturday afternoon in the woods outside of town. The group were very friendly and chatty and we set off in a small convoy of about four cars, parked up in a layby and they all set of jogging down a country path into the woods.

I eventually caught them up and watched them going through a few drills, struggling with moving in ranks up and down a hill practising basic techniques, obviously having become accustom to their nice flat, consitent gym floor. They continued their session and finished off with some freestyle on the trunk of a fallen tree which had laid across a hollow and then all jogged back down the track to the cars and home for a well earned coffee.

This was all very pleasant being outside and i then went along to a formal session the following week to watch and get some idea of what would make good photos as i still didnt really know if i could capture everything that was happening. The normal instructor was absent on this session but the head of the artform who lived nearby was going to take the session.

This man was an ordinary guy who if you passed him on the street, you wouldnt look at him twice, he wasnt big and muscular but at the same time, he had a presence and was very capable of articulating things.

He expressed his concerns that many instructors of other artforms liked to make martial arts seem complicated in order to make the things they do seem all the more impressive but, himself being a simple fellow, he liked things to be explained in terms that were easy to understand.

By the end of the session, I was keen to know more and that's what started me on the road to training. I believe i've come along way since then and have learned a lot that has helped me, not just in a martial art but also in life in general.

If you are a new beginner, what is it that is motivating you to take up a martial art as opposed to some other sport ?

If you are a seasoned martial artist with several years training, what was it that first made you decide, yes this is for me and looking back did it provide what you were seeking and more or did your original purpose get lost when you found something much more ?

Maybe you took up a martial art expecting something and never actually found that, becoming disillusioned and finally abandoning your quest - did you ever find what you were seeking in some other activity or maybe you are still looking ?

Tetsudo - The thinking persons' martial art