I was never clueless about the major U-turn I'm taking now. As a matter of fact, I've always looked forward to coming back to the path I have left more than 6 years ago.
January 27, 1997 marked my first footstep inside the dojo. It was in a very humble garage in Hermosa St., Gagalangin, Tondo, where my very first training took place. I reckon that on my first session, I left the premises as soon as half an hour after it started. The training was though. Yet, I didn't know that those 30minutes were just the warm up. Since then, I trained three to four times a week (including Saturdays and Sundays).
Our club was called, Tondo Karate Club. My sensei, Pepito "Peping" delos Reyes was a native of Batangas. His martial arts blood rooted from VILGAT. This name is an acronym of several virtues. Hardly do I recall all of them, except for Valor I Loyalty A Trust-worthy (?). Sensei Peping inherited his grandmaster's Red-and-White belt.
My first formal teaching started when I was a brown belt. I've started with a few novice students in Magat Salamat Elementary School. Sensei Peping gave this opportunity for me to cultivate my skills in teaching. Kids, as I always tell my friends, are the students I always like to handle. After a while, I had to give my class to another colleague to attend to my studies. I was in my second year in the university. Teaching proved to be challenging to vocal chords more than it is to the patience.
I loved my sempai days as it was when both my physical skills and philosophical growth flourished. I missed a lot of tournaments during my early colored belt years. Coming back as a brown belt, I started winning in both Kata and Kumite competitions. Bassai Dai was my favorite competition Kata which had me several trophies.
Light as a feather, I weighed 46 kilograms (12 kgs lighter than I am today) when I joined my first national game in the -55 kg division. It was definitely a surprise that shocked me, as sensei brought us to Rizal Memorial Stadium not knowing it's the 13th National Karatedo Championships we're attending.
There were three beltings before I was awarded with my first black belt. These were during the promotion from white to green, green to brown, and brown to black. Belting is an initiation in Karate where before you receive your new rank (your new belt), your instructor and all of the black belts present on that occasion shall hit you in your butt with their belts. Beltings are not for the faint of the heart. When senseis hit, they use full swing of the body, from the hips, back, shoulders, to the arm - these are enough to get your ass violet with just four hits. The fifth hit onwards will start making your glues numb. Each sensei takes 10 hits, and there's at least five of them present on each promotion night.
I was lucky the "Gates of Hell" were no longer practiced when I got my first black belt around 2000. In fact, it wasn't performed anymore when I got into the club. Gates of Hell is a grand initiation to receiving your black belt. As I've heard, all the black belts from the club are gathered on the night of the promotion. They will form two lines, and the promotee has to pass these two lines to get his new belt in the other end. Picture Shaolin Wooden Men! That's the perfect picture. Imagine an ensemble of attacks that will hit you all the way to your new rank. The more black belts present, the harder it is to get through. The promotee will have to defend himself. Retaliating is almost a bad idea as you'd rather advance a meter more than to stay longer in one opponent.
Sometime 2003, I moved out of my place in Tondo. This marked the start of my absence from the dojo. Until, I finally I decided to change path. However, I remained fit and sporty like I always wanted. From that last training day I've had upto this day, I've tried different sports and discipline. Mastered some. From badminton (competitive), weight training, soccer, futsal, long distance running, yoga, and underwater hockey.
My name is Cris Bernardo, and I am one of the last batch of black belts that Sensei Peping has promoted. Join me as I write about my journey in getting back to the fate I once abandoned.
