This is my latest article for the Boone Standard, printed in this week’s edition. (Click on images to enlarge.)
COMFORT—Of all the things you might expect to find in this small, unincorporated town, a karate school probably isn’t one of them. Still, every Friday night the Tumble Time Training Center in Comfort, WV becomes a dojo for a group of almost twenty kids and their sensei (or teacher), Mark Pettry.
Clad in white robes with colored belts around their waists, the students head onto the floor and begin class. After leaning the mats from the previous night’s tumbling class against a wall, they spread out. More experienced students go off and do their warm-ups on their own, while those with white and yellow belts, the newest students, stay and warm-up with Pettry.
Mark Pettry, who (by day) works as a district manager for Nationwide Insurance, was once a student here himself. He and his two sons signed up for karate after the Tumble Time Training Center began providing classes in fall of 2005. At that time Robert St. Clair, a fifth degree black belt in Shotokan karate, taught the class. Soon Mark was enamored with the sport, and began private training with St. Clair.
“We started working out at his house every Saturday morning, starting at 6 in the morning. I’d have to get up at 4 in the morning and drive to Oak Hill to work out for four hours at a time” says Pettry.
This grueling schedule eventually paid off, because Pettry accomplished in two years what most people require up to five years to do: he earned his black belt. This much-coveted ranking allowed him to teach a class of his own, and in early August he took over the Tumble Time Training Center karate classes.
After several sets of exercises meant to build strength and increase flexibility, Pettry spends some time teaching his less experienced students the proper way to execute a front kick. This is a part of karate known as kihon, where students are taught the “moves of karate”, as the Pettry puts it. Slipping sparring pads over his hands, he has the kids lift their left knee and then project their foot forward into the cushioned pad.
It’s almost a scene from some martial arts movie. The students start out wobbly and unsure of themselves but again and again they kick, until something finally connects the link between motion and mind. With occasional corrections of stance and technique from their sensei, the kids are soon kicking like little Bruce Lee’s.
According to Pettry, this building up of skill and confidence is what karate’s all about. “We try to instill in them confidence” he says. “We try to teach them what they can achieve.”
Eventually the two groups of students are joined together and lined up against a wall. They go up and down the floor this way, kicking and punching as their instructor calls out. Pettry then walks over and picks up another sparring pad, similar to the ones he used in kicking practice but much bigger. “Are we blitzing?” one student asks. Mark nods, and the students beam. Soon I see why.
Various combinations of punches, kicks, and head butts start flying against the giant pad Pettry holds in front of him. He braces himself against the hail of attacks, works them down the floor, and goes back for the next student. It goes on, one by one, until they’re all on the other side of the room again.
Judging from the students’ reactions, this sort of controlled foam-core violence is clearly very enjoyable, indulging harbored Power Rangers fantasies and teaching speed and coordination at the same time. Rest assured, however, these bouts against glorified beanbag chairs are as violent as Pettry’s classes get. “[Most people] think karate is like you see in the movies, people getting broken necks and all that stuff. It’s nothing of the sort. We try and teach them karate is not to be used in any offensive manner. We don’t let the kids touch each other.”
After blitzing, the white and yellow belts are dismissed from class. The blue and purple belts that remain stay to practice kata, another fundamental of karate that combines punches and kicks into a preset sequence, almost like a dance. After running through an astonishingly long sequence of moves once or twice (a sequence which students must memorize for their next belt test), they’re dismissed as well. Winded and perspiring, the students slip on their shoes and pile into their parents cars. It was a difficult workout and they’re worn out, but every one is still smiling.
“I think the most important thing is to not be afraid of karate. If you’ve seen it and you think you might have fun, come in and give it a shot” says Pettry, wrapping up our interview. “It’s just a good time with a lot of different kids from a lot of different areas.” After watching the kids that just left the Training Center, that’s certainly a fair summarization.
Classes are held every Friday at the Tumble Time Training Center in Comfort, beginning at 6:30. You must be at least 7 years old to take the class. For more information, call the Training Center at (304) 837-8625
I generally don’t read album reviews for CDs I know I’m going to end up reviewing. It’s more superstition than anything else, but I don’t like the idea of other writers’ prose working its way into mine, even subconsciously. With Ryan Adams’ latest release, Easy Tiger, this wasn’t so easy.