When people hear the word taekwondo, they usually think of it as a weird version of karate or doing a karate chop while in a crane stance. I used to also think the same thing when I first signed up, but taekwondo has been one of the best choices I’ve made in my life. I still remember my very first day at taekwondo camp, it was a hot July summer day in 2008, my thoughts were switching on and off between “Why am I doing this? I’m never going to fit in.” and “Maybe I should give this a try and see how it goes.” Because of that second thought, I have discovered one my all-time favorite sports, and I will never regret making that decision.

On the first day of the camp, I sat at the very back of the dojo with the beginners and we all glared at the backs of the black belts. They looked so disciplined and self controlled, standing tall with their hands to their sides, and as I saw them I got inspired to work hard so that someday I might be standing where they were now. Each lesson I would learn something new and I would fall more in love with this sport everyday. When I got to yellow belt (the third belt) it was time to start learning how to spar. Sparring is one the most tiring, fast paced, and painful activities in martial arts. It requires a lot of stamina, speed, technique, and focus. Not only is sparring a really good work out, but it also teaches you how to control your body and protect yourself in a real fight. Sparring took me a lot of practice until I finally got good at it, and because of it now I am able to do most of the moves as an instinct.

After a lot of hard work, sweat, and success, it was finally the day for the testing of my first Black Belt. I was extremely nervous and I was afraid that if I failed the testing that my life was over, so I spent most of my time at home practicing target drills, sparring drills, self defense, board breaks, and forms. The test was a total of about 2-3 hours and the most intense parts were the forms and the sparring. A form is a series of moves used to practice blocks and strikes (usually meant for show), each one having 40-60 moves, the part I was most nervous about was remembering all of the moves because I had to know 5 different forms! Even though forms is pretty challenging, testing sparring was the torturous part. There were a total of 8 partners,  each round was 3-5 minutes, and after each round the partners rotate. At about the 4th rotation everyone starts to feel dead and can barely move, but the hardest part for me is that I have to deal with asthma (a lung disease). I often have to take a break in the middle of the test, which I’m always afraid about doing because it might take off points, but I kept telling myself not to let my asthma take control. When the test was over, I felt like I was going to pass out, but I knew that it was all worth it.

Photo Credit: Michael Holler via Compfight

I am currently a 2nd Degree Advanced Black Belt, and I couldn’t be any happier. I realized that getting to black belt was only the beginning, but it’s not about the belt that matters, it’s the journey.