Wednesday, July 10, 1985/The Battalion/Paqe 5 SPORTS PUTT THEATRES S2.50 CINEMA 3 1st SNOW ONLY EACH DAY (•icafl NatMay*) SENIOR CITIZENS ANYTIME ssam] Respect for life'sweet spot’of martial art Photo by GREG BAILEY Meditation, as illustrated above, is a major part of tae kwon do. By ED CASSAVOY Sports Writer Athletes like to talk a lot about that area of sports that’s hard to classify concretely. Some call it “luck,” a “streak,” or it’s man ifested in the athlete’s talk of the magical “sweet spot” on a tennis or soccer ball. The martial arts havetheir own mystical mix of abstract and con crete inextricably woven into the fabric of the art. Dr. Michael Trulson, head in structor of the Texas A&M Moo Duk Kwan Tae Kwon Do Club, says this Korean martial art offers a person more than just protec tion. Trulson, a neurobiologist at A&M, says the mixture of athlet ics and meditation found in tae kwon do appear to change the way a person deals with the world around him. “The meditating is very impor tant,” Trulson says. “We have it at the beginning and the end of each practice session. “It serves a number of pur poses. It makes you focus your at tention on the exercise to come. (It is necessary) because, if you lose your concentration for a split second, that’s all it takes. You could lose a point (in competi tion) or it could be a matter of life or death.” Meditation positions used by the club members are either a kneeling position or crossed leg position. The meditation position is important, Trulson says, be cause any physical strain will dis tract the student. Each sense of the body is de prived of outside stimulus to al low for an inward focus, Trulson says. Eyes are closed, the practice gym is completely quiet and Trul son tells his students to concen trate on what is in their minds. “Most are students that come to the class,” Trulson says, “so I tell them to forget about tests, girlfriends and automobiles. “I have them think of their goals and why they are here. A lot of people, after a couple of medi tation sessions, find they can de fine goals a lot better.” Trulson has scientific research to back up his own personal ob- “The general public views the martial arts as aggres sive, violent behavior l teach my students they have a responsibility to avoid'confrontation at ah costs. ” — Dr. Michael Trulson, martial arts instructor servations in the personality de velopment of martial arts stu dents. His study indicates that martial arts training leads to a positive in crease in 15 measured personality traits. Trulson published the results of his study in the January, 1985 issue of Psychology Today. Trulson administered a stan dard personality test, the Jackson Personality Inventory, to mea sure the change in some listed characteristics. Trulson cautions that the data collected will be fol lowed up with more research. Trulson tested high school and college students, businessmen, housewives, doctors and unem ployed laborers. The test subjects were not told it was a study related to martial arts. The results, based on 15 per sonality characteristics, found an increase in the responsibilty of the martial arts subjects. Trulson says there was a posi tive correlation between the length of time a person had been involved in martial arts (the rank attained) and the strength of their responsibility increase. Trulson also found an increase in self-esteem, social adroitness (handling awkward situations) and energy levef in the subjects studied. “I found a decrease in the will ingness to take risks, they’re more conservative,” Trulson says. “I’m still studying it. I think it could be related to the training (martial arts students do) to protect them selves.” Trulson says the decreased risk-taking is an obvious spin-off of the tae kwon do training. He says students are taught that the best way to protect them selves is to avoid situations that might force them to use their self- defense training, keeping their guard up. Linked with this tendency to avoid confrontation, Trulson says the subjects he studied showed less aggressive tendencies, con trary to popular belief. “That’s less aggressive not more passive,” Trulson clarifies. “The general public views the martial arts as aggressive, violent behavior. I teach my students they have a responsibility to avoid confrontation at all costs.” Scott Negron, a member of the A&M club, says he’s noticed changes in his own personality that he attributes, in part, to tae kwon do. “Once you are up to a higher belt,” Negron says, “you are, in effect, a dangerous weapon. “If you had a bad day or a bad test, you don’t want someone to blow his fuse and go out and break someone’s rib or some thing. It takes a whole lot to get us (martial arts students) into a fight. We can take a lot of humil iation.” Negron has been involved in martial arts programs for five years, and he will be testing for his black belt in the fall. Negron says one segment of the, testing for the black belt is to See the level of emotional pressure an appli cant can take. “Either I don’t fight at all,” Ne gron says, “or I fight for good.” The test subjects showed an in creased in the respect for ortho doxy, or a tendency of the sub jects to be less “radical,” Trulson says. “(Students are taught) to have a respect for traditional customs and beliefs — the Oriental views,” Trulson says. “That doesn’t mean they go along with everything. “There is heavy emphasis placed on discipline and respect. Students bow to instructors and instructors bow back. It is a mu tual thing.” Trulson says tae kwon do tea ches a person to respect human life above all other things, a defi nite “sweet spot” Of the sport. C 1:20-120-120-7:20-*20^ STALLONE is bsctl RAMBO First Blood k Part II ® ' 2J0-53)0-7:30-103)0 The heat is on at... 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