Interview with Cody, a 12th grader from Markville Secondary School, Markham, Ontario, Canada.
Date: Jan 8, 2012.
Interviewer: Kin Sze

Cody is a trainee at Bamboo Kung Fu in Scarborough, ON Canada. He has been training with Bamboo Kung Fu school since summer of 2009. I have decided to interview him due to his exemplary outlook and concept of life as a young martial arts practitioner.

Interviewer: Hello Cody. How are you?
Cody: Hello, I am good.

Interviewer: How old are you?
Cody: I am 17 years old turning, 18 this year

Interviewer: What grade are you in now?
Cody: I am in grade 12 graduating this summer

Interviewer: How are your grades in school?
Cody: Grades are relatively average. Range in the 80s and low 90s.

Interviewer: Wow! School grades averaging 80s or 90s is no average, I think it’s excellent.
Cody: Ha, ha, thank you, I try my best.

Interviewer: Are you active in sports in school?
Cody: I signed up in a couple of extracurricular sport/physical teams. These teams include Ultimate Frisbee and Dragon Boat. These teams come later the school year. The reason why I signed up for Ultimate Frisbee is mainly because of the vigorous cardiovascular workout, hand-eye coordination, and to improve my ability to work as a team. What some may find interesting is my choice of wanting to participate in the Dragon Boat team. I decided to try out for the Dragon Boat because it ties into traditional martial arts training, such as waist strength and fluidity, as well as improving back and shoulder strength, fluidity, and flexibility.

Interviewer: This is now, after you joined martial arts. Prior to joining martial arts, did you not participate or compete in any sports?
Cody: No, I first began with swimming and baseball; however, (it) began to get a little bit dull for me, and I wasn’t quite interested in swimming. Therefore, I dropped both activities, and began basketball. During this time, I became more [sic] healthier and lost a lot of weight from being more active and having a better diet. Two to three years later, I began to take up break-dancing. I enjoyed it a lot because it taught me how to understand motions, capabilities of my body, and how one can express and themselves through music.

Interviewer: Congratulations on the weight loss, did you lose 10lbs, 20lbs?
Cody: Thank you, I lost around 10-15 lbs. of unhealthy weight. I fell into a sort of unhealthy lifestyle due to conditions (of) too much video games, eating junk food, and not staying active; however, it was difficult due to small apartment space, low self esteem, and unsafe local parks.

Interviewer: Amazing! Are you still break-dancing now?
Cody: Break-dancing now is an on and off thing. Since I started to attend martial arts, my interests refocused there. However, I still practice break-dancing often to brush up on certain moves and have a good cardio workout. It also gets me connected with music. Moreover, how oddly it may seem, I have found a way in connecting music rhythm when training with kung fu also. It is simply done by corresponding different moves to music while in finding a flow between movements. It helps in many ways; however, I believe that it can affect others differently in style but the same in concept.

Interviewer: When did you get involved in martial arts? How old were you then?
Cody: I got involved in martial arts when I was 15 in the summer of grade 10.

Interviewer: Why do you choose martial arts as a physical activity?
Cody: Well…yes, martial arts as a physical activity and it does indeed provide a high beneficial physical aspect in improving the body. However, I choose martial arts, gung fu precisely because of interest and the secrets it can reveal about one’s body which will bring out one’s hidden potential both physically and mentally.

Interviewer: Today in 2012, MMA, popularized by UFC, is a very popular combative sport and martial arts. Most 15 year old males….well…. then you were 15, would seek out MMA as a way of an outlet for aggression or learn how to fight and hope to feel powerful and secure, and yet you stuck with traditional martial arts. I also know that your father was also a kung fu practitioner in his younger days. Did he influence you in any way to pursue traditional martial arts, traditional kung fu in particular? Or did you want to learn how to fight effectively with flair, what is it that kept you in this traditional martial art?
Cody: That is true, today 2012, MMA has been highly influenced by UFC also. UFC has made martial arts as a vi….
Interviewer: Hold it! I have to cut you off here as I think what you are about to say will offend a lot of people but that very well may not be your intention. What I think you are trying to say indirectly, we have been drawn or led to believe that martial arts is essentially an event mainly about winning or losing?
Cody: Yes.

Interviewer: Let’s move on, anything further to add?
Moving on to most 15 year olds. Nowadays many adolescent males seek power. Now, what is power exactly? And how can I seek such a thing? And let me remind you, righteous power is something all men and women should have but not corrupted. This influence comes from and the thinking of one’s mind. MMA has shown many adolescent males the power to overcome one’s enemy physically while gaining fame, image, and influence. Many adolescent males would embrace this type of power and follow the ways of MMA. Thus, by doing so, many males will use the skills that they have learned or even watched, and use it on others. The adolescent males who are corrupted by power may demonstrate their skills in how to take down and opponent through a street brawl or a physical fight to increase their sense of security and influence which seems like power/control over others. This form of power is not the power I was searching for when I was 15, I sought docile power. I sought power that was hidden and only use when it is need to. This type of power was what I believe to be true power, which was power that was not deliberately brought to the public, power to protect, power that is controlled, and power that could be understood. Now, there are many ways to achieve such power, I found it in Traditional Martial Arts. I believe that fighting is not first priority when disputes can be solve in a non-violent way, and that if I ever encounter an inevitable physical encounter, I would want to know how to protect myself effectively, not fight. Many believe that if I know how to fight, it can settle disputes on the streets and I remain as the “Winner”, but many often forget that now a days, “street fighting” has evolved to “street shooting” were a gun can simply end a dispute right there and on. Furthermore, yes there may be many moves that can cripple, disable, and even kill a person, (such as critical blows to vital points) however, when your life is not in a dangerous position, what is the point in killing or taking another life? It may indeed make others fear you or shows others how you have the capability to kill certain people but what does that prove to oneself.

My dad has indeed influenced me into taking martial arts, but I cannot convey how he did so. This is because many reasons in why taking and living in martial arts cannot simply be conveyed by words but feeling. (This may be confusing for some, but it is the truth).

Interviewer: Cody, let me say this, you are an amazing young individual. Our society should have more individuals like you. As well, you have simply summed it up for me in the next question that I was going to ask you. So, am I correct to assume that you will not use this to dominate over your friends in school even though you have learnt a lot and know that you can do so?
Cody: Ha..ha, well, the question is why must one dominate? The knowledge and power that I have attained is not for show or to deliberatively to gain power over individuals that have no intention of harming. Thus, friends are gained through trust and respected relations, by exerting power over them does not make them my friends and may just lead to false friendship. My knowledge is to protect my will and possible the will of others, not to control.

Interviewer: I think what you have said in this interview is very worthy of sharing with other people out there so we all can learn something important. All these amazing comments coming from you, a 12th grader. Extraordinary! Therefore, I am asking for your permission to share this conversation on our www.bambamboo.com blog. Would you give us the permission to do so? Wait, you are not even of legal age yet to sign contracts. Can I get your mother to say that it is ok to share your opinions on our Bamboo website?
Cody: Ok sure I give permission, I will ask my guardians to sign.

Interviewer: Thank you very much Cody, you are an amazing young man.: