Not Just A Pretty Face

As you might have guessed it wasn't long before my girlfriend Alison had taken the natural progression from her self-defence classes into the World of Kuk Sool Won.   www.kuksoolwon.com

Alison as a Yellow Belt 1981

It soon became apparent that Alison wasn’t your regular run-of-the-mill  practitioner. She was a 'natural', meaning she had specific qualities that made practising look very easy. For example, being only 5ft 4" she had a very low centre of gravity, which made her posture look strong and her movement smooth and fluid, which is an essential part of Kuk Sool training.

Alongside these attributes she also had tremendous flexibility and agility needed for kicking. In addition to really cap it all she possessed a photographic memory, which meant she only needed to be shown a specific technique once and could recall anything at the drop of hat.

On the other hand I was the complete opposite – tall, inflexible and rigid. My memory was not that great either and I usually had trouble picking up new moves straight away. Despite this, for myself it wasn't all bad. On the plus side I discovered that I was quite strong minded and not easily deterred; a quality that would serve me well over the years.

As far as our martial art training was concerned, everything was going extremely well for the both of us. We practiced hard during most of our lessons together, as well as enjoying each other's company outside of the class. Alison had just obtained her first grade as a yellow belt and I was progressing steadily toward red belt, which was an intermediate level in our martial art system. 

One evening during a particular practice session, I was training on one side of the Sports Hall, while Alison was practising on the other side of the room. Everything seemed normal until I heard a bit of a commotion going on. I looked across to see a group of students gathering around looking at someone lying on the ground.

I halted what I was doing and walked over and realised that it was Alison laying on the floor. Everyone turned and looked at me with concern. When I peered down to view the situation I noticed Alison's left leg was sticking out at a right angle. It was unpleasant to view and I felt  sick just looking at the horrific injury.

What actually happened, while Alison was performing a certain self-defence technique. (Ki Bon Soo No. 2) her partner had lost his balance and fell back onto her leg, fully dislocating her knee joint. When she actually tried to stand up, she had no support and collapsed back down to the ground in agony.

Soon after the accident had occurred the paramedics were called and Alison was whisked-off to hospital. I remember sitting with her in the ambulance stroking her hand and giving her the gas and air, in combination with telling her some of my bizarre jokes, just to take her mind off the pain.

1st Degree Black Belt 1991

Arriving at the hospital and after close examination the doctor's    decided to anaesthetise Alison to get her knee set back into place. At the same time they decided to plaster her whole leg from ankle to thigh. It was a decision that was later to be reversed after a couple of days; the swelling on her leg became too much, which increased the amount of pain.

It was an exceptionally serious injury to say the least, enough to finish any sports persons career. Because Alison was really flexible as well as having hyper-extended knee ligaments it meant that her knee joints could be susceptible to problems.

After six months of continuous physiotherapy and rehabilitation, Alison made a marvelous recovery and then made the brave decision to return back to Kuk Sool. With her leg heavily strapped, she was strictly advised by her consultant to train very lightly to start off with. Despite many people advising Alison that she was crazy to return, she vowed that she was never going to stop practising martial arts.

Another noticeable fact, which I like to recall from our early days of going-out together, was Alison's ability to stand-up for herself. When I first met her I really thought I was dating this relatively shy, unassuming, attractive young girl. However during one evening out, I was to discover another side to Alison, which I and many other people never knew existed.

We were at a local dance hall and for some unknown reason there was this girl who had been taunting Alison for most of the evening. She'd discovered that Alison had recently started martial arts and was trying to test her resolve. We both knew that this girl had a reputation for causing trouble and tried to stay out of her way for the remainder of the night.

Master level - 2007

After the dance had finished, the girl continued with her threatening actions outside on the pavement, pushing and shoving Alison about. It soon became apparent that it was going to get physical, so I decided to step in to prevent this dreadful girl from getting too close. If nothing else I thought that I would at least try and calm the situation down, instead it only seemed to make matters worse.

The girl targeted more verbal abuse toward Alison, shouting out... "you're only tough when you're standing behind him," (meaning me.) That was it…. out of the blue my generally good-natured young girlfriend, had tolerated enough; she leapt forward and subsequently whacked this girl right in the head.

I was absolutely stunned, but not as much as the girl, who was literally knocked off her feet onto the ground. I stood there in amazement with my mouth open wide looking at Alison, I remember thinking to myself - where the heck did that come from? Alison calmly walked away from the scene as if nothing had happened, while everyone else just looked on in astonishment.

Alison Ducker
6th Degree Black Belt
2014

This was just one of the many examples of Alison standing her ground. I later found out that she was the "tom-boy" of her family; playing football as well as the regular play-fighting with her Dad. He'd also trained his ‘girl’ to develop exceptionally strong wrists, which again was down to the regular grappling competitions, which often took place in their house.

Over the years I came to recognise that Alison was not just a 'pretty face.' In due course she has developed into an extremely  calm, determined and respectful young lady. 

It was these attributes that would not only help Alison to one-day become a National Grand Champion, winning many Gold medals, but also the highest graded female Kuk Sool Won practitioner here in the UK.