Definition of courage: mental or moral strength to venture, persevere, and withstand danger, fear, or difficulty.
The Complete Combatant attracts a wide range of people, of all ages, shapes, sizes and gender. Often, The Complete Combatant is the first time for many to attend a professional training class. They are a bit apprehensive because they have no idea what to expect when they show up for class and sometimes they have never used the equipment they plan to train with, much less carried it on daily basis.
The world of the “self protector” is a foreign place to them but they summon the fortitude and determination to challenge themselves to learn. The courage it takes to decide “I will learn something new” is marvelous and fascinating to me. To immerse yourself in class, trying to absorb the torrent of information, and then perform it under the watchful eyes of the coaches and their peer’s takes courage.
In a short amount of time, I watch the bewildered expressions change to dawning knowledge when using the practical application of their new skills. Failure becomes victory and doubt becomes excitement while performing multiple tasks that no longer seem out of reach.
Watching this transformation is one of the great pleasures of teaching. Fear is a part of life, but learning to preserve under difficult circumstances is courage. I want to thank everyone that courageously comes to training classes and learns the skills of the self protection. We can learn anything if we just take the first step, and then another…..