I'm Going To Talk About Someone Behind Her Back (Don't Tell Her)

7/28/08

This post might get me into a little bit of trouble.

Today, I want to talk about someone behind her back.  Actually… that’s technically not true, because she receives these emails like everyone else.

I want to talk about Barbara Cedio.

Even if you’re not in the Adult class, you’ve probably seen Barbara around.  She’s been training at NMA for about 5 years, and her daughter Vinessa is in the teen class.  They’re at almost every NMA event and party.

Barbara has been around martial arts for a long time.  She first started training about 15 years ago with Master David Sgro in New London, achieving the rank of red belt in Tang Soo Do before Master Sgro moved to North Carolina.  A few years later, Barbara came to NMA looking to further her martial arts education.  Unlike most previously-trained people, there was no discussion of Barbara retaining her old red belt.  She wanted to start over at white again, because she felt rusty.

To put this in perspective: every once in a while I’ll get a call from someone who studied… I don’t know, Shaolin Kempo or something… and they’ll say “So… I haven’t trained in 20 years.  Will I get to keep my purple belt?”  And I’ll have to explain “No, because the system you studied during the Reagan Administration is totally different from what we teach here.  If you’re really good, there’s a chance of you moving up through the ranks faster.  A chance.”

However, because Barbara had previous experience in the same art under a reputable instructor and it had only been a couple years, I would have had no problem restarting her at red.  But she simply didn’t want it.  She wanted to start over and be thorough.

Over the last 5 years, I’ve found this to be a good example of Barbara’s character.  She’s thorough and steady and a hard-working student.  A self-admitted “slow-learner”, Barbara has told me she has spent hours at home, working on a single form or technique (I’ve told her that I don’t believe in slow learners, just careful ones).  After a hard adult class, she and Dawn Allen run the steep hills in the neighborhoods behind the school.  Strangely, they frequently encounter wildlife (aka big dogs and SKUNKS) but still run those hills after every class, completely of their own volition.  Instead of using big German Shepards as an excuse not to run, Barbara said “It was perfect because I’ve never run that fast, ever.”

Barbara, who is… ahem… cough… 39-and-a-half-ish, tries out her techniques on her military-trained 20 year old son to make sure they work.  If they don’t, she tells me and asks how to improve.

Black Belt is looming for Barbara.  She’s a red-black belt, and could be training for Black right now.  However, she told me her round kicks aren’t where she wants them to be, so she’s going to hold off until they’re better.

That’s dedication.  I’m sure she wants that Black Belt.  She’s been involved in martial arts for a long time, but she’s unwilling to accept anything less than her best before she goes for that belt.  That’s awesome.  That’s a real martial artist.

But wait, there’s more.

Barbara is fairly quiet and unassuming.  Don’t get me wrong… she hits HARD and can be aggressive when she needs to.  But for the most part, she doesn’t rock the boat.  So when I asked her a couple months ago to teach part of a really big Women’s Self-Defense class, she knew she was out of her element.  You may have heard that most adults fear public speaking more than death, and as someone who’s gone through Toastmaster’s training, I believe it.  Yet, as uncomfortable she might have been, Barbara committed to going through with it.  She practiced, she trained, she sweated, but ultimately she got up in front of about 40 women and did an awesome job, without a glimpse of the butterflies in her stomach.  She took the whole thing as a challenge, faced it, conquered it, and tucked it under her belt.

Barbara has some days off from work in August.  What’s she going to do with that time?  Hit the beach?  Hang at home?  No.  She’s going to America’s Best Defense in MA to train for 25 hours in Muay Thai, Krav Maga, and Haganah, learning gun defense, knife fighting and sparring JUST FOR FUN.

The reason I wrote this lengthy post is, I got an email from Barbara on Sunday.  She apologized for not being in class last week because she was practicing and testing for her motorcycle license (which she aced).  She said “Always been a firm believer that if you’re going to do something, you might as well prepare yourself as best as you can beforehand.”   In the next sentence she mentioned that Sunday was her 25th wedding anniversary, adding “Not only be prepared for life but to stick with it I say….(It helps my husband is a really nice guy).  Back to class as usual (and the hill) on Monday!!!”.   That’s Barbara, alright.  Thorough, self-motivated, and hardworking.

So Barbara, even though your face is probably redder than your belt right now, I want to say that I appreciate you as a student.  You set a great example for everyone else associated with our school, not only students, but parents as well.  I thank you for being a great role model and for making my job easier.

And Barbara, please don’t hit me for writing this email.  There are only 200+ people reading it.

PS: (11/29/10) Barbara recently underwent four days of rigorous training to become a Tran's Muay Thai level 1 Instructor, and starting this week will be teaching her own class here at ABD Norwich.  Rumor has it, she's thinking about testing for second-degree in the near future.