It's not very often a martial arts dojo or studio receives the opportunity to be visited by a master black belt practitioner, but this past weekend local students from the Estevan Tae Kwon Do Club received a visit from Vlado Brcic who holds such a ranking in the lofty spheres of the martial arts world.
Brcic was introduced to the students by local club instructor Wayne Brown, who noted that the two had struck up a friendship many years ago while Brown was training with Brcic who was one of his early mentors.
"I retired from active teaching a year ago, but I kept on training, I haven't been able to get away from that," said Brcic with a smile as he spoke to about 60 local students who ranged from white to black belts and various colours in between, signifying their current status on the martial arts achievement scale.
"Martial arts reflects a lifetime of practice," said Brcic just before he launched the students into a quick but rigorous warmup that included 100 pushups as a finishing touch.
"Once you learn your patterns for instance, if you practice them enough, it all comes back to you. It had been years since I had gone through all 25 patterns I had to learn for a black belt, but once I knew I was coming here, I wanted to make sure I remembered them ... and they all came back to me. OK, I still have trouble with Number 24," he said with a laugh.
"But once you have learned a martial arts skill, it becomes something that belongs to you. Nobody can take it away from you."
Brcic went on to tell the students that it is ultimately up to them and their singular mindset if they want to succeed at the various levels.
"Your instructors can correct you, and they will keep on correcting you, but eventually you'll have to do it on your own if you want to succeed, so that's up to you. You only get one or two hours a week with the instructor, so you need to practice at home. One hour with the instructor should translate to 22 to 23 hours of practice at home each week," he said.
For this special event, which was held in the gymnasium at Pleasantdale School on Saturday and Sunday, the local club's students went through a full two days of reworking basic elements as well as learning new striking, offensive and defensive moves plus a few group activities.
Some of the newest members, those who had only entered the program during the past few weeks, were occasionally assigned to other black belt instructors who helped them work on their basic moves over a more extended period, allowing them to gain more complete benefits.
