I do not bluster about my belt, and it not an ordinary belt. It is my black belt in Shotokan karate that I worked years to accomplish. If I took 6 months or a year off because of unexpected events in my life, I always find myself back to training to accomplish my goal of becoming a black belt. The hardest obstacle that I have to go through in order to get my black belt was getting pass being a white belt. Being a white belt is difficult because you are starting something new and you do not know anyone which can be discourage.
![](https://openlab.citytech.cuny.edu/pennereng1141fa2020/files/2020/09/image-2.png)
Training martial arts was something that I always wanted to do when I was in high school. I did not want to just be a heavy weight lifter, but I want to use my strength with fighting technique to be versatile in physical fitness. The main set back of me joining a martial art school was not having an income. When I finally got a part time job on the weekend, my next step was to joining a martial art school. I did not know anything about martial art, so I decided to join a Shotokan school because it was walking distance to my house. Shotokan karate grew on me. Shotokan was more than just learning to fight, but it is a culture and building a family bond with other students. Shotokan Karate is great stress reliever for people having a long day in their personal life by letting their anger out on a punching bag.
Now that I received my black belt from all the hard work, all the blood and sweat I shed, I do feel it was one of my biggest accomplishment. However, I have a long way to become a 5th degree black belt which is the highest-ranking black belt. During my duration of training I see so much students quit because karate put a lot of stress on your body and mind which people have a difficult time over coming those obstacles. I told myself I don’t want to be a quitter in life no matter how tuff things got. However, being a black also shows a life lesson that you can stay committed to a task without quitting. To this day, I am still train on a weekly basis, and I even incorporated Jiu Jitsu in my training because you never know when a fight might end up on the ground. Being a black belt became a part of life which I will consider teaching other students in the far future, but I will definitely make sure students don’t get hurt by correcting bad techniques.
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