Shortly after opening Nono’s Hapkido at 137 Pier Ave., in downtown Hermosa Beach in 1987, Nono’s adult students asked him to teach their sons and daughters. They were concerned about the downsides to their children’s privileged upbringings – including lack of discipline, lack of respect for authority, and ignorance of life’s less pleasant realities – both Mean Street’s and Wall Street’s. Nono was reluctant. He was used to teaching local, federal and international law enforcement officers and professional and amateur martial arts fighters. Only after opening his Hermosa studio had he begun to teach lay adults. His teaching philosophy was rooted in relentless repetition. Repetition requires discipline. Discipline is learned from mistakes. In the martial arts, mistakes are painful. Nono’s reservations weren’t unfounded. Some parents complained that their children weren’t advancing fast enough through the belt system. Nono told them he didn’t believe in “social promotion” in education, and he wasn’t running a martial arts mill, where testing fees are common. “Belts mean nothing,” he would tell the young white belts. To make his point he would teach them a black belt kick. He prefers to start children when they are five or six. “If you want to plant a tree first brace the tree so it will grow straight. If it grows crooked it can’t be straightened,” he explained. Learning by repetition may be out of fashion, but it is the foundation of Nono’s instruction.

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