Martial Arts Stories, Part VII

Story 7

I had a karate student back in the mid 1990’s, whose mom did something rather unexpected. I was teaching at a Chattanooga-area YMCA.

One day, not long after the student had joined the class, she came to class in a gi (uniform) - it looked rather funny. When I got closer, I realized the gi was not one by a manufacturer I was aware of - because one could see through it! Fortunately, mom had the student wear a t-shirt and all... but it was still very distracting because it was so very odd looking. Definitely out of place. And the poor girl realized it, too.

When the mom comes to pick up the student after class, she announced to me that since they did not have the $25 I charged for a uniform, and since a uniform was required, she had made the uniform herself for her child. After a little prodding, she admitted she made the uniform out of an old sheer curtain.

Unfortunately, the child felt so out of place because of the weird-looking uniform that they left after the first month.

Kicker: The dad made $85K a year (or so the mom said) as an engineer. I do know that they were not "poor" as I had to see YMCA membership cards to allow students in, and theirs did not have any of the indicators for families that were receiving scholarships.