As a little kid I was very into fighting such as boxing and MMA and saw myself in a ring or octagon. I wasn’t a violent kid, but watching my pops old tapes of old boxing fights really intrigued me. I eventually started boxing at 10 and was self taught. I taught myself how to wrap my gloves, how to hit a speed bag, how to do certain combinations on a heavy bag. I would even light spar with my cousin in the backyard of my old home. It wasn’t till my 14th birthday that I would use the money I was gifted to sign up at my local MMA gym which was a very small UFC gym, where I would learn kickboxing. After a few months for reguarly going, the gym would close for renovations and would open up again 2 years later when I had recently turned 16. This time around there were new matrial arts introduced such as muay thai and jiu jitsu. There was new equipment and more space. There were classes only for teens which motivated me to go. I would start doing jiu jistu under my late coach Sergio Da Silva. I was able to pick up boxing, kickboxing and muay thai quickly but jiu jitsu took me time to get used to. I would ask coach a lot of questions regarding techniques. Coach Da Silva would always give us lessons on life such as lessons on marital arts. Coach Da Silva always said consistency is key in anything in life. If you want to better yourself at anything is consistency. I remember my goal was to compete in competitions, but there was a long way to get there. My teammates were supportive and I tried supporting anyone who needed help with their striking. I would help them during our boxing sparring sessions and that person would help my ground game during jiu jitsu class. We had a competiton scheduled late March, but covid had other ideas. Due to the pandemic my gym closed for good and I lost a father figure in my life. My motivation to do any fighting was lost, but I still like hitting and kicking my heavy bag, although I haven’t returned to doing jiu jitsu, I’m hoping I can find a new place. But it will be hard to replace my old gym.