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I took my first Tae Kwon Do Class in 1983 at the local Y. This was obviously before I had kids. Or a cell phone. This was pre-MTV. In fact, this was pre- Karate Kid!

I had been going to class for about two months when the movie came out, and suddenly instead of the fifteen of us in the class (five from my family), there was literally a hundred that all wanted to be Daniel-san. This movie was the seminal event of the Second Wave of American Martial Arts, and for many of us Gen X martial artists remains among our favorite movies of all time. Yet what did we take from it other than spoiled blond rich kids deserve what they get?

The first thing I think is that training does not have to be sexy, but fundamental. My Master’s basement is the best training spot I know of, not some sexy studio. Just a dungeon that in the winter is warmed by body heat and in the summer actually gets supersaturated (I have seen it rain in the room from the humidity). The most hi tech thing in the room is the fluorescent lights. Old school the way it should be, just like the training.

Did Larusso win because of flashy techniques, or because he learned “Don’t get hit”? The basic idea of not getting hit meaning you can’t lose a fight has been lost to a generation of martial artists that have forgotten how to block and dodge and slip. Maybe they should go back to a mouth guard, cup, and cheesy gloves like we had. Then they’ll realize that not getting hit equals not getting hurt.

And of course the most important thing that Miyagi taught us: must have balance! In your techniques. In your life. Something those of us with the pressure of careers and kids and everything else struggle with but try to achieve.

Notice Miyagi took the time to go fishing. He had a “real job” but integrated martial arts into his day explicitly through his forms practice and implicitly with his attitudes and awareness. He balanced toughness with compassion, love with discipline, sacrifice with enjoyment. Balance in all things, thus producing harmony and ultimately a great story.

And so my five-year-old son Danny has been focusing on his first lessons taken straight from the Karate Kid: you don’t need all the toys, hitting hurts, and balance, Daniel-son!