TUMMA - a personal expression of Martial Art

A student of mine came up with the term TUMMA. He says "hey Tom you have been teaching Martial Arts for years and mixing all of the different systems and styles in your own way so why don't you call it tumma, you know Tom Updegrove's Mixed Martial Art. I kind of liked it and it kind of fit somewhere in my mind. TUMMA is a journey of discovery for me starting in 1965 at the Crafttex weaving mill which was located behind my house in the Kensington area of Philadelphia . I read a National Geographic magazine about Karate and it really resonated with me. Where I grew up was a relatively tough neighborhood where you learned to hold on to your lunch money. By walking tough and talking tough you could create a pre-context that you were not to be messed with unless that person was tougher than you. It seemed to me that if I knew Karate I could escape the game and put my self on a totally different level than those other tough and bully types. Now in 1965 there were only a few schools of Martial Arts. The Philadelphia Judo Club, and JudoKai which was about 30 miles away. So someone mentions to me that a guy by the name of Johnny Brim knew Karate and that he was one hell of a bad ass. Johnny Brim worked at Crafttex so I go looking for him and when I found him I ask if he would teach me. Me, I'm 16 and Johnny is an older guy, thinking now he was probably 30-35. He was a big guy with arms like pistons in a steamboat. He contemplates for  few minutes and then say "yes, meet me at my house Wednesday at 2 pm" and he writes down his address. I show up precisely on time and Johnny starts by introducing me to the basics. The Bow,  step and punch, inward, outward, upper and downward blocks. All in all we spend about an hour moving back and forth in his basement and at the conclusion of the lesson he walks over to a closet and pulls out a board. It was a 12' by 12" pine board and he places it between two cinder blocks and tells be to break it. He explained that he wanted me to break it with a hammerfist which was formed by balling your fist up tight and hitting with the little finger side of it like using a hammer. Well I plow through the board with a loud snap of the board and feel totally exhilarated and ultra powerful. Now Johnny pulls out three boards and after some focused breathing he hammers through all three boards, wham! I'm impressed and the lesson is over. On my way home riding the bus I feel like Robert DiNero in "Taxi Driver". Anyone who even peers my way I'm giving them the  "You looking at me" gesture because I know Karate. Empowerment is very powerful stuff. The end of this story is kind of hilarious because I find out later that Johnny is a white belt. Apparently he was taking lessons at a new school that just opened up under Teruyuki Okazaki. Next Seikan Karate Club 1965.
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