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German efficiency, Russian endurance and a little bit of Genghis Khan
by Ingrid Coughlan, Hildesheim
Shubarkuduk, Temirskiy district, Aqtobe Region of Kazakhstan, is a place you’ve
probably never heard of. You certainly would have never read about it in the Punchline if 19-year-old AKS member Lydia Schepp, an energy bundle with sparkling, dark brown eyes, had not been born in this Central Asian town, where hard winters are immediately followed by hot summers, and spring and fall are virtually unknown. Even today, many people life a nomad life in Kazachstan, not unlike they did at Genghis Khan’s time. The German minority in Kazachstan and in the other, now autonomous Asian republics of the former Soviet Union is shrinking. During the last decades, well over one million people of German descent left, emigrating either to Russia or to Germany. Lydia’s family emigrated to West Germany when the girl was five years old.
Years ago, I first met this little whirlwind in the Shotokan karate section of the Eintracht sports club in the suburbs of Hildesheim, Germany. At the time, she only reached up to my chest, but her mind certainly wasn’t undersized. I soon learned that her biggest wish in life was to be a lawyer, but, much to her dismay, she had been told that she could not study to be one. Her teachers felt that her abilities didn’t allow for this, and that she should leave school after tenth grade in order to learn a practical trade. Lydia’s mother tongue was Russian, and immigrant children tend to make spelling mistakes. Feeling quite differently about her future career options, I encouraged her and her family to switch to high school and go for a diploma. If it didn’t work out, I argued, then she could always start an apprenticeship later, and the extra bit of knowledge gained would certainly be useful to her in any career. Encouraged, they gave it a try. Lydia eventually passed her high school diploma with good marks and fulfilled her long-standing dream: She is now studying law at the University of Osnabrueck. After her studies, she wants to become a public prosecutor.
What does this have to do with karate? A lot. First of all, it is the story of a deep, mutually respectful and long lasting friendship. Karate definitely has something to do with respect and friendship. Second, karate has strengthened Lydia’s self-confidence and endurance, a fact she is well aware of. Third, karate has become an important part of life for all of us, uniting us like a family. Lydia, half German, half Russian (and who might even find a little bit of Genghis Khan in her heritage), trains together with myself, my Irish husband, and with my son, who is half German, half Irish. And she trains in one Japanese and one American style of karate.
Together, Lydia and I left the Eintracht club and joined Shotokan Hildesheim, where Dieter Mansky, 6th Dan Shotokan and President of the Lower Saxony section of the DKV (German Karate Association), became our instructor. A few years later, we met Andreas “Teddy” Modl, 6th Dan AKS, whom our instructor had just appointed head trainer for self-defense in Lower Saxony. After a number of self-defense seminars, we decided that we would like to get to get to know the entire context of those self-defense techniques which we had learned from Andreas Modl. We asked him to become our instructor in Hildesheim. Since then, we have been training AKS there as well. Today, Lydia and I are both Black Belts in Shotokan and hold grade ranks in the American Karate System. Only recently, Lydia passed her Black Belt test
in Shotokan, receiving her diploma from Albrecht Pflueger, 7th Dan, and Dieter Mansky, 6th Dan, on 23 April 2005.
Needless to say that Lydia is good at karate, just as she is good at anything she works for. Lydia is one of those women whom you don’t have to teach how to punch and kick properly and actually make an impact. There is none of this “I-can’t-do-this”-block in her, this fear of aggression which prevents many a woman from developing proper fighting strength. Lydia is naturally energetic, diligent and can be quite belligerent at times, even though she would of course deny that if anyone suggested it. She would look at you with big round eyes, telling you: “Little Lyly can do no harm!” At such moments, you should not necessarily believe her ... especially as Lydia is over 5’7” tall now and certainly no wimp. Physically, my former “little girl” has been looking down on me for a while now.
Although her instructors unanimously agree that Lydia is talented for competition fighting, she has never taken any interest in it. Lydia likes self-defense and all aspects of traditional karate. The little girl from the plains of Kazakhstan will eventually turn out to be a reliable and talented AKS instructor.
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