As a teenage martial artist, I always heard about the importance of staying humble. We all hear about the importance of not thinking we are the greatest. We are told not to be arrogant and not to be cocky about our abilities. For a teenage student these concepts are very Continue Reading
David Paprocki
One Kanji, Different Meanings
When we look at this kanji, what does it mean to you? 唐手道 For some, it means the way of the Chinese hand, karate do, Tang Soo Do, or Tang Shou Tao! Yes, all of those translate to the same thing. Depending on where you live though or the art Continue Reading
My Side Kick – Then And Now
Martial arts is, or should be about constant polishing and reflection. In doing so we must make ourselves vulnerable, and if there is one person we must make ourselves vulnerable to, we need be vulnerable to our own self. I will do that just now with you. Let’s take a Continue Reading
If You Don’t Cross Train, You Need to Cross Read
We’ve seen Ana, Anthony and I all comment on the importance of being well rounded and cross training, but some of us don’t have the time to train in and seriously rank in several different martial arts. We should at least though, look to the roots of different arts to Continue Reading
Rooms Have a Purpose, Respect the Office and the Dojang!
The university that I attended was a martial arts melting pot. While I was and still am the Chief Instructor of the Tang Soo Do Club, I had the ability to learn so much from people from outside of my organization and outside the art of Tang Soo Do. One Continue Reading
The Selfish Benefits of Being a Selfless Instructor
I was at work the other day, and I had the opportunity to teach a newer coworker of mine how a certain vehicle system worked. This gave me another perspective for something that I already thought I knew. This helped get my coworker in the right direction while I also Continue Reading
If Bruce Lee Were Alive Today: Lessons For Your Own Life
If you know anything about Bruce Lee, you know that he was a very deep thinker. While the superficial world knows him for his martial arts he was an even more prolific philosopher! In fact, he regularly wrote in a journal. While a lot of his writings were meant to Continue Reading
Treat Sparring Like A Jam Session
As discussed in my previous article about one step sparring. Free sparring is a soft skill, A skill that requires creativity, different experiences, and calculated risks to improve upon! In The Little Book of Talent by Daniel Coyle, he suggests that the right environment to improve upon these skills is Continue Reading
Three Fortunes – Infinite Possibilities From Lunch with a Coworker
I was having lunch a couple weeks ago with my friend Yoshi who is a colleague of mine in more ways than one. We are coworkers at the same company, but we also train in the martial arts together. He had ordered three different plates of Dim Sum to go Continue Reading
Do Vs. Jutsu
I don’t know about you, but a younger Naive David Paprocki saw the arts of Ju Do and Jiu Jitsu (Also Spelled Ju Jutstu) and thought, “Hey, they both have the same first syllable. I wonder if that means something?” Well, It turns out young naive David wasn’t that naive Continue Reading