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CHILDHOOD • 1st SCHOOL IN COLLEGE • 2nd KANSAS-BASED SCHOOL • 3rd COMMERCIAL SCHOOL• SHOTOKAN

RED SUN ACADEMY • WARREN GARRETT • JIU-JITSU • TAI CHI • WEAPONS

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by Amy L. Benevento

CHILDHOOD
As a child, I never took a martial arts class, though I had interest.
When I asked my parents about it, the reply was "We can't afford it."
End of story.
Well... not quite...

......FIRST SCHOOL IN COLLEGE
......I first started studying the martial arts
......in college in upstate New York.
......Classes were held in the basement
......of an old church with cold tile floors.
......There was no advertising for this school,
......just a ripped notebook paper
......with handwritten information
......tacked on the church bulletin board.
......There were no gis,
......though a few veteran students wore tattered ones.
......There were no brochures, no written material of any sort,
......no mats, no training targets... just our bodies and sweat.
......There were no katas in this system.
......I don't even think the school had a name.
......No warm ups.
......We would start with 100 punches in horse stance,
......then we'd do various hand strikes followed by kicks.
......After, we would pair up for self-defense drills.
......Little verbal instruction was given (if any),
......just a loud bark or a club on the back of our head
......if we weren't giving our all.
......Then most of the class would sit
......as we watched the senior students get beat up in sparring.
......There was no protective gear back then,
......and there often was bruising, sometimes blood.
......He taught in a harsh militaristic style. I feared him.
......Some of the long-time students called our instructor by his first name;
......most called him "Sir."

Now in this small college town, there was quite a distinction between the "townees" and "students." We college students viewed the townees as rough, street-wise, blue collar, and green students. Townees viewed college students as "pretty boys", snobby, ignorant of the world, and only book smart. It would be a mistake if a college boy entered a townee bar. However, here in this church and in this karate school, we mixed. Sir favored the townees. College people didn't last long and he didn't waste his time with them. Townees were rough with college boys. I, being a girl, was mostly ignored. In fact, there were few women in the class, but I do remember two rough ones who pretty much left me alone, surprisingly and fortunately. I don't know why on earth I stuck it out there for four years! I joined with two other college friends, more enthusiastic than I. They didn't last long at all (one showed great promise physically; I did not in the beginning). I think in the four years I was there, Sir didn't know my name. He pretty much ignored women (but didn't yell at them either like he did with the guys). He ignored me for four years, but I trained under him and kept with it.

NEW JERSEY BRIEFLY
After I graduated college, I moved to New Jersey and joined Quest Gym. There was a karate school there. I said I had no experience because I wanted to start at the beginning (I still felt like a beginner despite my four years). Also, I feared sparring, associating it with blood and bruising. But this school was different. It was much more gentle. But everything was so different, and I wondered if the moves here were taught incorrectly. I didn't know yet that martial arts was not uniform, that every school varied so much. We mostly just kicked at flashy colorful targets. The instructor looked like a male model, and most of the students were female. More emphasis by the students was placed on color cordination in clothing and hair ribbons than on martial arts. I did not stay there long. I do not count this as my training. Just a fleeting experience.

SECOND SCHOOL - Kansas Based
A couple of years after college, I moved to North Carolina. Once again, I looked for a martial art school. It was here where I was first introduced to Tae Kwon Do from a Kansas-based school in Raleigh. Again, wanting to start from the beginning and still fearing sparring somewhat, I said I had no experience and started as a white belt. This school was a little more similar to my first school in college in that it lacked mats, training targets, and any printed material at the time. Again classes were held on a tile floor, only this floor was clean and not bumpy. The instructor was not quite as militaristic, though he was viewed as mean, often yelling at us. I remember as a new student going up to him before class to tell him about a ferret I had gotten, and in the middle of my sentence, he turned and walked away. He told other students to shut up. Again, I feared my instructor. I'm not sure why we stayed, perhaps because of the strong friendships formed among students. There were two black belts. One was snobby and didn't associate with beginners. The other shorter one was kind hearted, but a constant target of the instructor's who bullied him. We were not allowed to visit any other martial art school, or associate with any other student from one. It was rather cult-like, though I didn't quite see this at the time. Fellow students were warm and strong friendships developed. But again, there was little verbal training, and advanced rank often did not have correct foot angle among other things. Technique was not taught, though power and discipline was. More and more, despite the friendships I had formed, I knew this school was not right for me and so I left.

It was at this point where I started reading everything I could on the martial arts. I had such a thirst for it all. I gained much mental knowledge, but was homeless as far as belonging to a school was concerned.

THIRD SCHOOL - Commercialism
Once again, I searched for a martial art school, and again, stumbled on Tae Kwon Do. This was my introduction to contracts. This school taught technique, and I learned quickly, starved from my other schools. However, I was sad to see how commercial it all was, how money and business was of prime importance here. I became disenheartened when I saw seven-year-old black belts running around. The instructor lacked integrity. Depressed, I quit this school. I considered leaving the martial arts altogether.

SHOTOKAN
I found Shotokan in my fourth small school and it was here where I finally found a warm and caring teacher, Sensei Boone. I learned their katas, their ways. I felt I had found home. It was here where I was black belt (though I had tested for black belt in my previous school, I don't count that in my heart). Sensei Boone shocked me once when he asked me to teach class. I had very limited experience in teaching from my previous school, but we had to teach in exact order and in his style, and I couldn't do that. Sensei Boone gave me full reins. It was here at this school I recieved the missing ingredient, confidence. From my first two schools, I learned discipline. From the next school, I learned technique. Sensei Boone gave me confidence. And, I finally learned how to really spar.

Unfortunatley, while Sensei Boone was a true martial artist, he was not a businessman, and this Shotokan school fell, sad to say.

RED SUN ACADEMY
So once again, I was without a school. The commercial schools started sprouting up like mushrooms all over, but I did not want that. I began training with friends on driveways, in garages, in parks, going to seminars, traveling to weekend training sessions out of state, still reading reading READING everything I could on the martial arts... Then the idea dawned on me in the late 80's to open a school and operate it the way I wanted, one that taught discipline like my early training, one that definitely taught technique and mental knowldege, and one that gave students confidence, and more, maybe even a sense of honor. I felt I had something to teach and I wanted to do it right. Thus Red Sun Academy was born. Like my own child, it changed my life forever and is dear to my heart.

CONTINUED TRAINING The training certainly doesn't stop here. Still in the 80's and now with my own school, I searched for my own teacher. This took quite some time.

FINDING BELOVED SENSEI WARREN GARRETT
On of my training buddies (Michael) told me to take a drive with him early Saturday morning to Greenville, that there was a very impressive master there who trained just a handful of select students on his property. Michael said he was phenomenal. I brought my sparring gear. That was a time I was so into sparring.

We arrived in the gravel driveway. There were about seven students in the garage, all young men, warming up to train. Michael introduced me to Sensei Warren Garrett, who glanced at me, but did not invite me inside to watch. I sat in the car for two hours. I was angry about wasting a Saturday and didn't think much of this new master.

The whole two-hour drive back, Michael encouraged me to come back next Saturday. I told him I wasn't into the "stay out in the rain for six days before you allow me in to sweep the floor" thing. But that's kind of what happened, looking back. I don't know WHAT in God's green earth allowed me to entertain the thought of coming back, but I did. Again, I bought my sparring gear. Again, I could not participate, but I was allowed to watch. I have to admit, I was impressed.

I suppose I did the "stay out in the rain" thing in a sense, and eventually Sensei Garrett invited me to class. Still young, I'd be lieing if I said I didn't have an attitude a little, a chip on my shoulder, but little by little, I was all encompassed with training. I lived for Saturdays. I practiced what he taught every day, no exageration. Sensei was harsh and tough, but he was fair and a phenomenal martial artist, and I grew to love him for what he taught me.

After earning my second degree black belt, Sensei moved to Chicago where he continues to teach a select group of students. He is still my Sensei and always will be. At his school in Chicago, he does not charge fees, but adds all bills associated with the dojo (a small area upstairs in a building) and divides them among his twenty-two students. He does not advertise. He does not need to. People wait to train with him but he is presently not taking on any new students. He allows for absense due to illness and reasonable emergencies, but if he starts hearing excuses (the "I'm too busy with work" thing), he tells them to please leave and find another school. He makes me reach my best. He had me write a book, something I never would have accomplished if it weren't for him. He trains me less and less physically now, but more and more for personal growth, working with me as I teach, guiding me on assertive skills and inner confidence.

After spending literally years searching for a school, and instructor, it is nice to know I now have a permanent one. It's like once again, I've found home.

CONTINUED TRAINING
The early 90's brought continued growth and love with Red Sun, a start of a lifelong study with Tai Chi, and weapon training.

RED SUN Red Sun started out in a Community House in Wake Forest, which was a small town at that time. We grew and grew. I only had access to the community house two evenings a week. I needed more nights; we were busting at the seams! Three years later, we got our own place next to a fish store, but outgrew that as well. However, we stayed at that small place for 7 years, because it was the first place of our own. Red Sun became well established -- its members, like a family. On January 1, 2001, we moved into a large facility one mile away, and again, stayed there for about 3 years. When CVS tried to buy the land our building sat on to build their own, we moved into Raleigh, where we are now. I thought I would miss the other locations, and I do somewhat, but I am most happy here. This is the prettiest and warmest dojo yet. It is like a home.

.....

 

JIU-JITSU For about two years, I studied Jiu-Jitsu in Apex, training one-on-one with the instructor. I had no prior experience in this style and had anticipated and hoped to start at white belt level, but he placed me at green belt level, considering my past experience. This instuctor taught a variety of styles in addition to traditional Jiu-Jitsu. I achieved the rank of brown belt.

 

TAI CHI I owe a lot to Blackwell Brogdon, who personally began training me in the art of Tai Chi in his crowded livingroom, bumping into chairs. We also trained out by my mailbox. Blackwell shared his passion of this art to me. From here, I continued training with master Frank Wong, direct student of the late Cheng Man-Ch'ing. I wanted to train further with Frank, but had to teach on the nights his classes were. One spring, several of Frank's students and I gathered in the Rose Garden park to do our Tai Chi form. I now train with master Jim Cross. Jim feels that Tai Chi must be taught out doors, and teaches only select students one at a time. He has taught me much.

.....

 

WEAPONS In the early 90's, I seeked training in weapons, having no experience yet in kobudo. I went to numerous seminars and workshops, again traveling the east coast for this. In the mid 90's, I stumbled on a small husband-and-wife kobuto school in the RTP area, and they stressed strong foundation and the basics. I trained with them for a couple of years. Then my sparring buddy Michael Chuck, phenomenal in weapons, worked one-on-one with me in weapons on the driveway. I have been training with Michael for over 5 years now! Still feels fresh.

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I look back at my childhood when I wanted to study karate,
but wasn't able to because we couldn't afford it.
Now I am pleased that I operate a most affordable school
in an age where prices for martial art classes have sky-rocketed,
and martial art magazines for instructors encourage this.

I look back to my early training in college
and the roughness of it all, the fear,
but the awe which kept me involved.

While several of my past schools
wasn't exactly what I was looking for,
each taught me something.
I first learned discipline
from my college school in the church
and from the Kansas-based school.
I then learned technique
from the commercial school.
I finally learned confidence
from Shotkan.
And Tai Chi has taught me
to interconnect it all,
with balance.

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