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Peeler’s one of about a dozen students who have participated for more than 20 years in the biweekly Chayon Ryu martial arts classes offered on campus by Master David Mitchell, a seventh degree black belt, and Master Bobby Knott, a fifth degree black belt.
"The physical and mental training helps me stay limber, keeps my reflexes sharp, and keeps me healthier as I age," Peeler explains.
But, the classes haven’t just helped Peeler, but rather they have come to involve every member of his family. His wife is a black belt in Chayon Ryu and his three daughters went through the classes which Peeler contends "helped them."
"I enjoyed seeing them (my daughters) go off to college as more confident in themselves," he recalls.
Now, Peeler’s 10-year-old son Holden is enrolled in the classes with his father, and Peeler says his son is being transformed. "I’ve watched a timid young man become self-confident. There are a lot of role models in that class that I want him exposed to."
Chayon Ryu Classes Begin at Catawba
It was Knott’s father, Catawba College President Robert Knott who originally helped establish the Chayon Ryu
martial arts classes on campus when he was provost at the College in 1984. He felt the Chayon Ryu system’s art and philosophy would be a good fit with the educational mission of the institution.
Bobby Knott, who enrolled in the classes beginning at age 13, still considers himself a student of Chayon Ryu despite his fifth degree ranking. He is sure that his training in Chayon Ryu has helped change and positively direct his life.
Knott had had some bad martial arts experiences before coming with brown belt in hand at age 13 to Mitchell’s classes at Catawba. "It was after those experiences of taking other martial arts classes and being physically hurt that made it so great to meet Master Mitchell," Knott recalls. "With Chayon Ryu, he (Mitchell) didn’t build you up by tearing you down. He was an educator.
"The whole focus of Chayon Ryu is higher learning," he continues, "and the reason we train is to become a better person. Martial arts that stress competition are great exercise, but games come to an end. With Chayon Ryu, the education never stops."
Mitchell agrees. "We’re always trying to attain self-awareness and self-knowledge, so we can reach enlightenment," he says. "We’re not a substitute for religion and religion is not taught in class, nor is politics. You can travel at your own level of fitness and this will help strengthen you."
About 80 percent of the students in class are adults "who are growing into instead of out of martial arts," Mitchell notes. "The forms and techniques taught are very old, but the way we practice has been modified so people are able to do them for a lifetime."
Master David Mitchell
At his core, David Mitchell is an educator. By day, he teaches fifth graders at Isenburg Elementary, and by night, he’s master (and adjunct instructor) of his
martial arts classes at Catawba. However, Mitchell took a very circuitous route through martial arts territory before he discovered Chayon Ryu and its founder Grandmaster Kim Soo in 1973 at Kim’s martial arts school in Houston, Texas.
Mitchell, who grew up in Salisbury, began training on his own at age nine before beginning formal training in 1967 with a South Korean instructor who came to Salisbury and offered classes. He says he had the mistaken idea early on that martial arts were all about fighting. Marriage brought Mitchell to Texas, where he soon located Kim Soo’s martial arts class in Houston.
Sheepishly, he recalls his first appearance in Kim Soo’s class. "I was ready to fight and win," he remembers. He says Kim Soo seemed disappointed in him after that first encounter, until Mitchell loped up to him after class and told him he would sincerely like to train under him.
Kim Soo must have seen the diamond under Mitchell’s rough and tumble exterior, because train him he did, creating a worthy student who in turn became a teacher and perpetuator of Chayon Ryu martial arts techniques half a continent away from Houston.
"We train how not to fight," Mitchell explains. "Once people have a higher level of consciousness, you realize you’re only in competition with yourself and that the true enemy is inside.
"Now, I’m like a shepherd with my flock and I’m very protective of them. I’ve come to realize that your students are the trophy and even I am the trophy of my own efforts."
To date, Mitchell, through the classes he teaches, is responsible for the training of 18 black belts, ranging from first degree to fifth degree. His two adult sons, Josh and Matt, are among these black belts, with Josh holding a third degree, and Matt, a second degree.
The Transformative Power of Chayon Ryu
Practitioners of Chayon Ryu are convinced of its educational benefits, including 53-year-old Lane Graham, a special education teacher at Cleveland Elementary School who works with children diagnosed with attention deficit disorders. He’s been a student in Mitchell’s classes since 1984 and holds a fourth degree black belt.
Graham, who is pursuing his doctorate in curriculum instruction and specialized education services at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, has chosen Chayon Ryu as the topic for his dissertation. "My premise is that Chayon Ryu is a complimentary intervention that may have positive effects when used with other treatment strategies such as medication in children with ADHD."
To prove his premise, Graham is in the progress of monitoring students who are enrolled in martial arts class at an undisclosed site in the county. He has biweekly contacts with these students and is also conducting pre- and post-class interviews with the students and their guardians to assess and document changes in their behavior due to the Chayon Ryu classes. He expects to have his dissertation complete late next spring.
"Chayon Ryu promotes a positive teacher/student relationship and I believe it is an effective prescription for life and living," Graham says. "It’s not about fighting. It’s about strengthening the whole body and mind."
For more information about enrolling in the Chayon Ryu martial arts class at Catawba, contact David Mitchell at (704) 636-8809 or by e-mail at dmitchel@catawba.edu
