Greetings fellow karatekas.

My name is Rodney Boyd...and I am currently a Ni Ku Brown Belt. I attend Bill Taylor's Bushido School of Karate in Murfreesboro Tennessee. I am 55 years old...and sometimes wonder what an old man (that's how I feel)...is doing trying to kick it with the young people. My journey to this moment...to the goal of Black Belt has been a long one.

The roots of my journey started the first time I saw a movie (actually a series of movies) about MR. MOTO...starring Peter Lorre...before he entered the horror genre'. I was amazed how this little, unimposing man who was a detective...was able to beat the bad guys without shooting them up...but merely by throwing them around. The size ratio did not compute....but the seeds of martial arts were planted in my mind.

My first physical encounter using martial arts was in the 6th grade...and was based on what I saw in the Mr. Moto movie. I definitely was not trained in the Martial Arts...and I was definitely not physically up to the task. I was a scrawny, skinny, proverbial 98 pound weakling.

I remember it was when I was in the 6th Grade at Mitchell-Neilson Elementary School...standing in the hallway outside of the gymnasium. We were milling around and talking...and a larger student was picking on me. He was kidding around...I didn't necessarily feel threatened...but all of sudden...I found myself taking this large, imposing person and grapped his arm and twisted my hips and threw him over my shoulder. Everyone was surprised...the people around me...the guy who I threw over my shoulder...but nobody was surprised more than me. I had merely imitated what I saw on a movie.

From that moment on I was fascinated...but for some reason never cultivated the desire until 1972.

More to follow

Rei
Rodney