What makes a beginner?
![Image](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipu50VfUyX8nLKLi2KEDFrJMbDGg5DplgI0ASwS5SLUgtwYmFlH-6fvRaCmG5FmillQIAfHL7nr_SlopQVnno-1Vy4FssZe_XIU_9rfa74uFgOCSvDWJ-vPeoNAr2MDe1dzQWDiV-8CHg/s320/LiveSeveralIncatern.gif)
The title to this essay might seem like an odd question. On one level the answer is really quite simple: the beginner is the person who just walked in through the door. But on another level, you'll sometimes hear experienced martial arts practitioners say: “I’m still a beginner.” This isn't just false modesty either. There is some truth to the notion that even an experienced martial artist can be a beginner. How? Because in the end, it’s all relative. In February I will have celebrated 36 years of continuous training in the martial arts. Am I a beginner? Manifestly not, in the ordinary sense of the word “beginner”. But how does my 36 years compare with Kyoshi James Sumarac’s 50+ years of training? Or, for that matter, Master Chen Yun Ching’s 72+ years of training? In relation to them, I am a beginner. It also depends on what type of martial arts you’re talking about, hence my gif above of Ronda Rousey - a judo expert - boxing (more on her in a minute