My formative years

Kids in Korea generally do 5 things: play soccer, practice Tae Kwon Do, study like crazy, eat dukkboki, and play either the violin or the piano. I only did 3 of those things and studying wasn’t one of ’em.

My first memory of physical activity was kicking a soccer ball around when I was a shrimp of a kid at 5 years old–I used to sleep with a soccer ball every night. I also remember a time when my grade school had a sort of a fitness celebration day where all of the kids participated in physical competition. There is me getting ready to run the dash.

To my great disappointment, I couldn’t channel my inner Usain Bolt and finished second.

Many if not all Korean kids do in Korea is learn Tae Kwon Do. I got my black belt when I was 7 years old. Back then I was able to do a split and kick people in the face like Bruce Lee. In fact, I remember getting into a playground scrap with the biggest Iranian kid at my elementary school in LA–I don’t have picture of that one. When I used my kicks, all the kids thought that I was Bruce Lee incarnate. The other scrap was with a Mexican kid over marbles. The incredulous thing was that I got suspended for getting thrown to the fence and punched in the stomach. I thought this was the greatest thing since rice because I didn’t have to go to school the next day.

Speaking of splits and kicking, I have been working on trying to get my legs to do the split again and, boy, my legs are about as cooperative as a stubborn mule. You would think that because I was pretty limber as a boy I would have an easier time going back to where I was, but it is not the case. I’m afraid my progress in this department less than glorious. The funny thing I’ve noticed is that I could have a great range of motion one day and feel super tight on another. So, I figure I’ll do some research on flexibility and will post what I find.