To paraphrase Socrates, the rationale man’s poetry, no matter how diligently studied and practiced, will be eclipsed by the works of the inspired madman. I would like to think that GMA has been the work of both sides of me. To run any small business, let alone one in the field that historically ranks as one of the most frequently closed businesses in America (and that was pre pandemic!) takes a little planning and diligence. Yet, GMA has succeeded not because of business strategy, but because of our passion for sharing the life changing benefits of the martial arts and creating a culture of leaders who want to help people in the same way. Along with that passion, I think we have reached this milestone by displaying the same attitudes we expect from and try to instill in our students: discipline and perseverance, focus, the ability to adapt and overcome while still staying true to tradition and foundational principles.
I have on multiple occasions and various places shared snippets about our history, so I will spare you those ruminations now, but please allow me to recount a few of our highlights. As we tell our students when it comes to goal setting, we overestimate what we can do in a short time but tend to sell ourselves short on what we can accomplish over the long term. And for some, 25 years is a long time:
At least 30,000 classes.
Over 200 black belts.
3 Masters (1 HKD, 2 TKD), and 4 junior masters, and BJJ black belts.
At least 4 other martial arts schools have come and gone since we have been here.
2 student training trips to Korea.
Nearly 150 seminars/workshops taught elsewhere.
Around 70 special seminars/workshops held here, including those with Olympic Gold medalists, multiple
World Champions, Bestselling self-defense authors, grandmasters from Korea, and instructors who travel the world.
Outgrowing two previous locations.
I have lost track of the number of parades, demos, PE classes and school talks, and money raised.
We now have several students who are the same rank or higher than when I founded GMA. We are blessed with the depth of our team; it is a luxury of being a mature school. Over the years there have been many more upper ranks, assistant instructors, and staff who we were blessed with, but ultimately moved on. In many cases, I was crushed and wondered how we would ever replace them, even though I routinely talk to our black belts about the “circle of life” in martial arts. We all had mentors and people we looked up to in the martial arts, and those people had someone they aspired to be like, and our newer black belts should be that for the next generation. I am grateful that cycle remains unbroken here at GMA.
While I am grateful but not surprised to see that play out over the years, there are lots of things that I did not foresee or give any thought about happening. I have lost track but can think of at least 6 different marriages that have occurred between GMA black belts. Some of those couples are among the group of parents who trained at GMA as a child and are now bringing their own children to us.
I sat down the other day at the BMV and started to rummage for paperwork in my bag. I didn’t look up until I heard, “How are you Master Sieg?”. It was a black belt who I hadn’t seen for probably 15 years who was helping me. The same thing has happened at the bank.
Our leadership team is getting ready to do our annual shopping outing to benefit a needy family for Xmas. We try to take a rather large family that perhaps other people couldn’t cover as easily, but the family I received this year was really big. As I drove back to the school, I was thinking how we could make things stretch. When I sat back down at the desk, there was a message from a former black belt asking if we still sponsored and family, and if they could donate to the cause! It was more than enough to take up the slack. God often provides in ways like that. And God has always found a way to provide here at GMA through the years. I would like to think it is because our purpose is one importance for this community.
Steven Pressfield, in the War of Art, discusses such important work…”We do the work and its demands… for its own sake, not for attention or applause. To do it is an offering, purged of hope and ego….To let the work come through us and give it back to the source. In the end, the artist is the servant of the Angels, the muse. The artist, over time, acquires modesty and humility…alone with their work, they are chaste and humble. [because] … they know they are not the source of such inspiration. I—no, WE–have done the work. I am not the source, but I have tried to faithfully and diligently preserve and pass on the knowledge and benefits that my teachers and the arts have given me.
When I was graduating from high school I can remember taking in the ceremony with curiosity. Some people were excited as if they had just been released from prison. In contrast, I knew I had at least four years of college and probably more school after that. High school graduation was a nice milestone, but it was hard to get excited when I knew I wasn’t close to being done.
And so here we are, celebrating a milestone. We can use it is an excuse to hold special events and have cookies, and I will try to get some marketing mileage out of it. But honestly, it is hard to get too excited when I hope we aren’t close to being done. Because we have 4 new white belts starting this week, and none of them give a rip about any of that. Perhaps one day they will be another one of our leaders who I will wonder how we will ever replace in the circle of life of martial arts. But right now, it is our job to show them how GMA and the martial arts can help them to BE MORE
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Gentry Martial Arts--the rants of a martial arts eccentric 