BLACK BELT/ BROWN BELT

Don’t mess with Penny Beddow.

She can break a board, no sweat, and she can break you.

Just kidding.

Penny, a fourth-degree black belt, owns two local martial arts schools in Fort Wayne: Coventry Taekwondo and Stellhorn Taekwondo.

She has about 300 students total, all of them learning the ancient skills of self-defense and proving that you’re never too young, or too old, to try something new.

Almost anyone can release their inner crouching tiger or find their not-so-hidden dragon.

Her youngest student is 2 1/2 and the oldest is 61.

One new student started at age 53 and could barely lift her leg waist-high – now she can kick above her head. Penny has students with back problems (she herself has had knee surgery), autism and multiple sclerosis.

“It’s so individual, you can progress at your own level; you also get back what you put into it,” she says.

Taekwondo, loosely translated as “the way of the hand and the foot,” involves hand movements, kicks and stances.

At 29, Penny started training; at 38 she opened her first school.

Now 47, this former accountant is preparing to compete again in the Songham Taekwondo World Championships later this month in Little Rock, Ark., along with her son and four other students.

She’s ranked in the women’s top 10 (for her belt level and age group) in all three categories – forms, sparring and weapons – based on tournament points she’s accumulated in the past year.

Penny started Taekwondo after her kids got into it, and she was impressed by their ability to defend themselves. Her daughter was inspired by the movie “The Karate Kid” and her son by the “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.” Both of them also are fourth-degree black belts. (Ninth degree is the highest.)

Penny has stayed with it because she believes in the philosophy and its practical application. As in any martial art, using your head is just as important as using your body.

As much as it emphasizes power, distance and control for the physical moves, Taekwondo builds confidence, encourages discipline and sharpens your focus.

Patience may be a virtue, but it’s often a foreign concept to kids who grew up playing video games and expecting instant gratification.

Even in sparring, you don’t have to be the biggest or strongest to be successful. You just have to control your nerves and try to take advantage of your opponent’s mistakes.

“It’s the training; it’s not just (quick) reflexes, it’s the confidence,” she says.

Penny has seen many of her shyest students blossom into skilled technicians and class leaders. One 8-year-old wouldn’t do a jumping jack in front of her because he was afraid he’d do it wrong. A few years later, he now helps lead class.

Another boy spent his first month of class watching from the mat. Now he’s preparing to test for his black belt.

She struggled as a student as well.

She almost quit at orange belt (the second level) because she couldn’t master a required kick. But her daughter, who was already a black belt, kept encouraging her to be patient and keep practicing. So she did, and she passed the test.

If you’re consistent in your training, it’ll take about 2 1/2 years to earn a black belt, she says. With each rank, there are new techniques and forms to learn, and therefore new challenges.

But a positive attitude is central to all of it.

The motto of the American Taekwondo Association’s founder is stenciled on the wall at Penny’s school: “Today not possible … tomorrow possible.”

Penny believes in positive reinforcement and rewarding her students for jobs well done, as opposed to punishing students who won’t listen.

She tries to encourage confidence in all her students; the key is to get them ready physically and mentally to compete – to believe “I am the winner, now I’m going into the rink to show them why,” she says.

And no matter how they do in competition, or in a belt test (neither of which are required of students), she asks them what they learned from the experience.

Remember, she tells them, it’s important to learn how to handle the negative things, the bad calls in life, as well as all the good things that happen.

There will always be struggles, but the key is to not give up. Try to always respond with positive energy, and turn a bad situation into a good one.

Choose wisely, grasshopper
www.fortwayne.com

Martial Arts News

Martial Arts

Splitting boards with their feet was the culmination of the Martial Arts Empowerment Program for sixth grade middle school students who recently completed a leadership empowerment program.
    For the second year the Wilmington Family Counseling Service, Inc. offered this program under the auspices of a United Way of Merrimack Valley grant. The group is a collaboration with the Wilmington Public Schools and Master James Kenney Silver Lake ATA Taekwondo.
    The 22 students were energized by the martial arts experience for which they earned orange belts as well as the group discussions in which they learned leadership skills like respecting others and themselves, communicating in ways others will hear, and asserting themselves positively.
    “My son thoroughly enjoyed this program. He was proud of himself and it added to his self esteem,” explained one parent on a program questionnaire. Another parent was enthusiastic about her daughter being more “positive and optimistic.”
    “My greatest joy as a principal has been watching students blossom through the caring efforts of teachers, other staff, and programs like this one - I wish all of our students could have participated!” said Kate Conway, Wilmington Middle School principal.
    “This program has been a great collaboration between the Wilmington Schools, Silver Lake Taekwondo, and ourselves much to the benefit of the students who grew in stature and friendship and self-regard,” said Carol Golub, WFCS executive director.
    “It is well worth our efforts to secure United Way funding which hopefully we have for another year,” she said.
    Additional funding is needed for this and other Wilmington Family Counseling Services, Inc. programs. Anyone wishing to contribute may send a tax-deductible donation to Wilmington Family Consulting Services, Inc.

Martial Arts News

Martial Arts