My Story
Biography of Erica Marbet
In preparation for Shodan test
March 7, 2020
I would like to thank all the senseis and fellow students who have spent time with me to help me train and refine my karate techniques. What a privilege! Thank you to Soke Hill for carrying Butokukan forward and sharing it with people like me. Most of all, I would like to thank Sensei Tim Ford, my sensei, for consistent training over so many years. Sensei Tim, your enjoyment of this martial art is the most important thing that you have passed down to me. I intend to carry that forward, along with all the other skills you have taught me.
There is no pursuit in my life that engages my strength, coordination, thoughts and intuition like karate. I had no idea when I brought my 4 and 6-year-old into an ordinary looking storefront dojo, that I would find a history and philosophy of practitioners going way back in time. My connection to these people would be through physical movements, not just words and stories. The whole thing was strange and surprising to me; it still is.
I simply had no impression of martial arts before starting at age 35 (2010). Sensei Tim was the first Sensei that I met when I walked in the door, and he informed me that I too could get out on the floor and try this thing out. This made me happy, since I did not want to sit on the side and just read my book while my kids learned. But when I got out on the floor in the adult class, I was very nervous. Thankfully Senseis Toni Wharton and Faith Sexton made the introduction more comfortable. Though I thought they too were intimidating and little crazy. I recall the first time I saw one sensei demonstrate a toho strike to the neck of someone stabbing her with a wooden knife. I thought, “What the heck have I gotten myself into?!”
When I observed another sensei advise a kid to bite her would-be kidnapper; I knew this would be a wild ride. Ultimately, I decided that if I just stuck with it and did what I was told to do in class, maybe I would learn some karate. For a couple years, I did not take myself seriously at all. I did not believe that I could move in the direction of Shodan. I could barely kiai without laughing, but I kept trying. I do think it was Sensei Faith who finally got it into my head that I should take the whole thing seriously.
My kids dropped off after a couple years, but I kept going to class, especially for the workouts. I found that I loved sparring more than I ever thought I would. Occasionally sparring would reduce me to tears, and I hoped I could figure out how to control that. Mostly sparring left me feeling great afterwards (relaxed, happier, and sleeping better) and got me into really good shape.
I am a scientist by trade. I study the frequency of storms, floods, and droughts, the timing of the wet season and the dry season, the daily respiration and water uptake by the vegetation that covers the surface of the earth, the rise and fall of fish populations, and pulses of pollution that move through water systems. All these phenomena have a certain timing, cycle, and rhythm.
Sowhat a surprise for me to find that as two opponents engage in a fight, there is also a rhythm, or there can be different rhythms. And my intention is to break the predictable rhythm to win the fight. But more important than that is my ability to understand how much of a threat my opponent is to me and to discern the reason for her aggression. In doing this, I may avoid the fight altogether.
Karate has helped me understand law enforcement officers better. I understand that the in fleeting moments during which they make an arrest, protect a civilian from assault, or are assaulted by a civilian, the mind is in a state of response. The mind and body are different than their normal, rational state during an altercation.
I appreciate very much the training I have had with law enforcement senseis and the purposefully simple self-defense strategies and techniques that they have taught me.
Though I have learned a lot from karate, I think it’s important to note that karate may not save me from the violence I may face in life. Violence can come in many forms, most of which I have not trained for. Life is cruel; an assault can be with a gun, can catch me completely by surprise, may be subtle and more verbal than physical.
I hope that the awareness I have gained and the response patterns that I have learned in karate will help me anticipate and avoid violence, but there is no guarantee.