By Jerilyn Covert ’04
What’s more surprising than a mathematics
professor highly skilled in street-fighting techniques? Perhaps that he also trains a
wheelchair-bound computer-science major. Together, Dickinson’s Dick Forrester and
Nathaniel Klein ’05 are exploring some new
dimensions of an ancient martial art.
Forrester, an assistant professor of mathematics
who specializes in operations research, holds a third-degree black belt in Chidokwan
karate—a blend of traditional and
modern techniques that, he says, emphasizes “practical street-oriented self-defense,
sport competition and artistic expression.”
Forrester has practiced karate for almost
20 years. He started when he was 12 because all his friends were joining the Alfred University
karate club and he “didn’t
want to be left out.”
The 31-year-old attended Alfred, about 10 miles from his
home in Almond, N.Y., so he could continue to train under his sensei, or karate teacher.
In 1999, he founded a karate club at Clemson University, where he earned his Ph.D. and
met his wife, Jill, who works in Dickinson’s admissions department and holds a
purple belt in Chidokwan karate.
In the spring of 2003, just one semester after arriving
here, Forrester organized a karate club at Dickinson. He hung posters, sent e-mails and
generated enough student interest to establish the club, which meets twice a week in
the Kline Center loft.
Each session about a dozen barefoot students, many of whom don
a white gi and yellow belt, train in the martial arts. Along with basic training and
self-defense skills, the students practice sparring, which involves mock fighting with
another student, and kata—Japanese
for “form”—a pre-arranged set of movements that places the student
in combat with an imaginary opponent.
Such a training environment is not suitable for
Klein, who was born with Larsen syndrome, characterized by severe muscle weakness and
dislocations of the major joints. A mechanical wheelchair serves as his means of transport.
Klein
values karate as a way to strengthen himself physically. “I knew [karate]
was something I could do, unlike most sports,” says the 20-year-old from Dobbs
Ferry, N.Y.
He trains every Sunday afternoon in the Kline Center lobby, amidst the
leather couches and chairs that Forrester arranges for him.
“I used to be in a club
for disabled people, and we practiced karate,” says
Klein. “That karate was developed for disabled people.” He and Forrester improvise. “Each
week it’s like we’re coming up with new things,” Klein explains.
He trains
with arnis sticks, 26-inch-long bamboo rods. The movements that Forrester has adapted
for him are geared toward realistic self-defense scenarios.
“The sticks offer a
nice set of exercises and techniques he can do and are practical to do,” says Forrester,
who focuses on Klein’s range of motion and suggests
various blocks based on Klein’s abilities.
“Often, Nathaniel and I work as
a team,” explains Forrester. “I develop
a specific block or strike, and Nathaniel, who obviously has a better understanding of
his range of motion, says, ‘I can do that, but I think it would be more practical
if I did it this way instead.’ In this way, we developed a great working relationship.”
Klein,
who has noticed an increase in upper-body strength in the last year, says that “the
training has helped, not only in teaching me how to use the sticks or my arms to defend
[myself] but also [in maneuvering] my chair.”
Klein’s wheelchair moves “like
swiveling hips,” says Forrester. “It’s
amazing the extra power you get with the centrifugal force.” At one point, the
sensei thought their “sticks were going to break; [Klein] had so much power” in
his blocks.
As Klein pivots his wheelchair and blocks Forrester’s fake blows,
he smiles in reaction to Forrester’s emphatic “bang” and “bam.”
“He
always makes fun of me because I make sound effects,” Forrester comments
with a smile.
Forrester insists that his students take karate seriously, “make
a commitment, come to classes and really try hard.”
“It’s like mathematics,” Forrester
adds. “If you miss two weeks
of lessons, you’ll not know what’s going on, and that’s not going to
work.”
Karate complements his academic career because it teaches focus. “It’s
not just about [the] physical,” Forrester says. “It really can help with
academics as well.”
It “teaches confidence,” he continues, “the
kind of confidence that doesn’t necessarily come from other sports, that comes
from knowing you can defend yourself.” • |
