Author: TSMA Page 178 of 200

You may have seen UFC, WWE or boxing, but Aikido brings something wholly different to the concept of martial arts.

“It’s different because you have to feel your attacker,” Aikido of Solano Roy Pippin said. “You can’t get in front and just combatively beat up on one another. We use our opponent’s energy to defeat their purpose.”

Time and again Wednesday at the Suisun City Library, Pippin showed how quick reflexes and simple motions defeat a wide range of oncoming attacks. His fellow instructors Joe Le and James Fulmer demonstrated a wide variety of rolling Aikido falls, designed to avoid injury.

O’Sensei Morihei Uyeshiba (1883- 1969) practiced all traditional martial arts of Japan, then invented the martial art of Aikido, focusing on harmony and peaceful reconciliation.

Pippin said Aikido takes effort and patience to learn. If you practice Aikido day in and day out for years “you can feel what’s coming. You can sense it.”

The concept is often foreign to today’s instant gratification way of thinking.

“To do anything you have to have the desire to do it, then you have to have the effort to do it and then you have to have the willpower to continue to do it,” Pippin said. “Most everybody these days has a Burger King mentality, they want it their way and they want it now.”

For those willing to practice and devote their time, the rewards are stark, as Pippin, Le, and Fulmar showed (see photos). The minimum age to start Aikido is 7 years old. The maximum age? Well, Pippin is 64.

Aikido of Solano is located at 502 A Parker Road in Farifield. You can get more information by going to www.aikidoofsolano.com or calling 707-469-0210.

Tracy Vega, who grew up in Sag Harbor, has made a career in being an expert on self-defense and she will be demonstrating some tactics on an upcoming national television show.

Now a Floridian, Vega and her husband Charley Vega run a program called Simple Self Defense for Women, which is designed for the woman who wants to know a few techniques on how to “Simply escape an attack and not stay and fight.” They teach workshops for businesses and organizations meant to empower women. There’s no punching, no kicking, no having yourself thrown around.

The couple recently appeared on “The Daily Buzz” and will be on Lifetime’s “The Balancing Act” on Feb. 29, demonstrating how women and children can escape the most common type of grabs.

Since 1 in 3 women are attacked in their lifetime, Tracy said it important for women to be ready to react in a situation, like the one a woman found herself in on Long Beach in Sag Harbor recently. When a man tried to lead her into his car, she hit him with her iPod and ran.

Charley has 28 years of experience in the martial arts and is a Master Instructor of Combat Hapkido. Tracy is also an experienced martial artist. Her grandfather was longtime Town of Southampton tax receiver George Kenney. For those old enough to remember George Ward ran Ward’s Garage with her father Donald and her uncle George.

Tracy, who said she used to live around the corner from Long Beach when she attended Pierson High School and the now defunct Sacred Heart Academy in Sag Harbor, had these tips to offer women about personal safety:

She offered these five tips:

1. If someone suspicious approaches you, put your hand up at eye level. It may make the person stop approaching, while also getting the attention of others around you.

2. Carry pepper spray. It keeps people at bay when you take it out. While we don’t recommend guns and knives, pepper spray is not lethal if you do deploy it unnecessarily.

3. If someone approaches you and feel like you are going to be the victim of an attack, throw anything with a little weight — like the woman in Sag Harbor did with the iPod — at the attacker’s face. It will make them flinch and might give you an opportunity to run.

4. If you are attacked when you have items in hand, throw the items in the opposite direction you are running. You never know, the the perpetrator might be after your goods and not you.

5. The most basic thing I can tell you is when you go somewhere, tell someone where you are going, who you will be with and when you are supposed to be back. This is extremely important.

For four decades, the Hemann family name has been closely associated in Fort Dodge and throughout the Midwest with the martial arts. Bill Dutcher and Tom Hemann have launched a new business that should continue that tradition well into the future. On Feb. 6, they opened Hemann Tae Kwon Do at 2406 9 1/2 Ave. S. – the gymnasium of Youth Shelter Care, which is housed in a building that at one time was the Holy Rosary School.

Tom Hemann said the focus of the new enterprise is tae kwon do classes for people of all ages, but with a strong emphasis on serving families and young folks. He said he expects that many of the students will be in grade school, middle school or high school, but stressed that there will also be a large number of adults of varying skill levels in the classes.

“We’re not going to exclude anyone,” Hemann said.

One of the goals of the Hemann Tae Kwon Do is to create a welcoming environment for families. Dutcher said the nature of the classes makes it highly appropriate for a parent and child to participate in this activity together.

Keeping the classes priced to fit within family budgets is a priority at Hemann Tae Kwon Do.

“The biggest need is affordable lessons,” Dutcher said regarding the niche this business seeks to fill. “We’re making it more affordable for kids and families.”

There will be classes three nights per week – Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. A class for beginners is scheduled for 6 p.m. each day. An advanced class follows at 6:45 p.m. Hemann said students will have flexibility regarding the number of classes they attend each week, but can participate all three nights if they choose.

Dutcher, who is a sixth-degree black belt, and Hemann, who is a fifth-degree black belt, will be the principal instructors, but other experienced devotees of tae kwon do will also help with the instruction.

“We have black belts and higher ranking black belts who will assist us,” Hemann said.

Both Dutcher and Hemann said one attraction of this martial art is that it is appropriate for a wide spectrum of individuals.

“It’s fairly easy to learn,” Dutcher said. “Anybody can learn it.”

The classes aimed at beginners are designed to make it possible for people new to this activity to gain the knowledge and skills that will enable them to join the advanced class quickly.

“They have to learn some of the basics,” Dutcher said, noting that students usually move beyond the beginner stage in two to six weeks.

Why do tae kwon do?

People are attracted to tae kwon do for assorted reasons, but improving physical fitness and enhancing self-esteem are key goals for many students.

“This focuses on the average individual who is interested in learning self-defense,” Hemann said, explaining one reason people pursue tae kwon do.

Dutcher said that in addition to the physical benefits of exercise, including an increase in flexibility, there are other rewards that a commitment to tae kwon do can afford.

“It’s not just the physical, it’s the mental, too,” he said. It builds kids’ self-esteem.”

The philosophical tenets tae kwon do teaches, which Dutcher said are “courtesy, integrity, self-control, perseverance and indomitable spirit” have pertinence well beyond the gymnasium.

“This will carry over into school,” he said, reflecting on how these concepts particularly help young people evolve into better adults. “We want them to grow up and become good citizens.”

Both Dutcher and Hemann have studied and taught tae kwon do for decades. Hemann said it was a television show in the 1960s that initially sparked his interest.

“About 43 years ago – 1969 – an idea came to me about self-defense while in high school and watching the TV series show called ‘The Green Hornet’ co-starring Bruce Lee as Kato,” he said. “It was so interesting to see Bruce Lee perform. … I researched a paperback book and tried to learn on my own.”

He said he soon discovered that the YMCA offered tae kwon do classes and began what has proved a lifelong martial arts journey.