Here are a couple of light hearted stories that happened to me. Two separate thrilling events happened that undoubtedly saved two young boy’s lives.

The first lucky-to-be-alive-today soul was a soccer player on a team I was coaching more than 10 years ago. This 8 year old was scrimmaging on the field and I was chasing him. He was dribbling the ball a few feet in front of me while running at full speed down toward the net. Without any warning signs, he stumbled and fell down right in front of me. I weighed more than 400 pounds back then. Momentum being what it is, I was not going to be able to stop on a dime. I instinctively did a forward roll over the boy and ended with a tenkan. I remember hearing gasps from the parents looking on from the sideline. I wonder how well that young man runs today. Continue reading

Was it worth it? It was sometime around one year ago, May, or June, 2008, I think. We were closing up an iaido class and shutting down the dojo for the day. As it was fine weather that night, the front door was open to allow in some fresh air. The few students that night were bowing off of the mat and preparing to leave. A friend and I had been chatting for a few minutes after class and he was now heading to the locker room. He had placed his iaito (sword) onto a bench behind the practice area about 20 feet in from the doorway.

I headed into the office to close up there. I returned to the practice area about 10 minutes later to find my friend searching around the dojo trying to find his iaito. Everyone had joined in the search. A parent picking up her daughter came in to see what the commotion was about and told us that she thought she saw someone running through the parking lot toward the back of the building just a few minutes prior.

In the few minutes while we were away from the practice area, someone had entered the dojo, violated the serenity of our practice area, and stole away into the night taking a sword with him. I felt terrible. An unwanted intruder had entered into the heart of the safe community that I was working so hard to create.

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