Self-Defense Course Good Exercise, Protection

Joseph Choi spreads his legs and bends his knees.

He steps forward with his right foot.

Then pulls his left arm to his side and extends his right arm with a powerful thrust.

“Oiy,” Choi grunted as he punched the air.

Nine kids lined up in a gym watched with wonder and hoped one day they could exhibit such power.

“You all have the equipment to do the same thing,” Choi said to the youngsters, taking Tae Kwon Do lessons for the first time.

“You just don’t know how to use it. I will show you,” he said.

Choi, 52, is an international master of Tae Kwon Do. Currently he is teaching a self-defense course for the Spokane Recreation Department for kids ages 6 to 13 at Ridgeview Elementary School on Monday evenings. The first class was held this week.

Although the course is advertised for children, Choi said adults are welcome to enroll in the 1-1/2-hour workout.

The course is scheduled to run 13 weeks. It has been a rec department favorite among kids and their parents for many years.

The martial arts have always been recognized as a good form of exercise. But these days, many parents say they want their children to know how to protect themselves.

“My daughter is always coming home from school saying, ‘This happened to me, or, that happened to me at school,”’ said Joanne Reynolds, whose daughter, Alana Keplin, was trying her best to keep up with Choi.

Keplin is 6 years old and attends Finch Elementary School.

Complicating matters, Keplin’s father just recently died.

“There’s a certain sense of security that she, and myself for that matter, don’t have anymore,” Reynolds said.

“Most of her playmates in our neighborhood are little boys and many of them tend to be aggressive and push her around,” Reynolds said. “I just think it’s very important that she be able to know how to protect herself.”

Like Reynolds, Luke De Marsico brought his 5-year-old son, Keenan, to learn a few moves.

“I think something like this builds confidence in a kid,” he said. “Keenan’s timid, and he gets along with kids very well, but he’s approaching school age, and at some point there will be a bully.”

As for Lila Anderson, she brought her 6-year-old son, Shawn, for the exercise.

“He’s very active and loves sports,” Anderson said. “I thought this would be a good way for him to learn to use his body in ways that might help him in other sports.”

According to Choi, someone proficient in the martial arts has the ability to overcome size and gender differences.

“You see really, tall, strong guy? It doesn’t matter if you know how to use your equipment,” he said, as he balled his right hand in a fist.

The kids learned how to execute punches and overhead and inside blocking techniques.

An overhead block protects the head from objects coming toward it; an inside block can be used to disarm an attacker wielding a knife or gun.

Choi said the key to learning is by practicing the maneuvers every day.

“I can show you 1,000 times, but if you only practice once, you won’t learn how to use the equipment,” he said.

A native of Seoul, South Korea, Choi told his students he practices Tae Kwon Do at least one and a half hours a day.

“This is lifetime practice; human body education. You practice like me everyday like me,” he said.

“It may save your life. Try hard; die hard. Try easy; die easy.”