20 Problems You'll Only Understand If You Were A Martial Arts Kid
12. Bowing For Everything
Bow before you step on the mat. Bow before you leave the mat. Bow to your partner. Bow to your partner again. Bow to your sensei. Bowing for everything wasn't good enough either. You had to bow CORRECTLY. Head down, eyes up, hands firmly by your side. At least the drama kids got to throw a little bit of pizazz into their bowing action, especially compared to your mechanical snowman technique. They didn't know how to apply a sweet figure-four armlock though. Swings and roundabouts.
Sometimes your instructor would be called away to a different group, tell you to keep practising a particular move, and never return. An hour and a half later and the spring hip throw would be burned forever into your memory. Even today you have to prevent yourself from reflexively jamming your foot onto somebody's thigh when they offer you a handshake.
