Eye of the Tiger

Over the past few years, I've learned where a lot of my drive and determination has come from in life. Aside from the learnings of my parents, a lot of it started in 2nd grade when I got my white belt and started taking taekwondo.

Taekwondo gave me focus and taught me how to set goals for myself. I had to test to achieve my next belt color and move through the rankings. And back then it wasn't easy. You had to work hard, even at 8 years old. I learned how to break wooden boards from Home Depot with my bare hand and foot. Our workouts were sometimes so hard I fainted. And if I did, I wasn't baby'ed. I was told to sit out for a minute, take deep breaths, and jump right back in. I worked hard to get good grades in school so I could display the "Academic Acheiver" patch on the right shoulder of my uniform with pride. As strong and fierce as I was in class, I had to learn to never practice my moves outside of the studio. And if I was late to class or misbehaved outside of the studio whether in school or with my parents, I was punished with either a knuckle sandwich or 25 push ups.

I remember how obsessed I was with becoming a black belt. The passing rate was 50%, and very few climbed the ranks of taekwondo long enough to even test for a black belt. In addition to physically preparing for the test, I had to write a 5 page essay on what taekwondo meant to me. I wish I still had a copy of this essay. Even back then, I had a lot of the same mentalities and values that I have now. It's very odd in a way, but not. I was 12 years old, one of the youngest kids in the studio to go for a high rank, and trained for an entire year to get prepared for what was then the biggest test of my life. I got my black belt but was too young to break a brick so I wore a junior black belt for 4 years. When I was 16, I tested again. This time by breaking a brick with my bare hand.

Not many people who know me today know that I have a black belt. It's weird how something that was such a huge part of your life for so long can become dormant when you don't practice. Getting my black belt is what I believe helped me get into college. I wrote my college essay on breaking a brick. I'm sure that piqued the admissions board's interest.

Today the karate studio I used to go to still exists, but their rules are much less stringent. Many parents complained at the tough lessons of discipline the school practiced, and they have loosened up a lot. I heard they don't even use real wooden boards anymore. I don't know if these new era kids are learning as strong of a lesson as I once did, but I can only hope so.

This summer I have been devoting a portion of my free time into giving back to the community, mainly through two things I love the most in life: the ocean and surfing. I have been working with inner city kids on Sundays teaching them how to surf. Within this community we have created levels for them, things they can aspire to be and grow into. They have to test to be a part of these higher levels and it brings back fond memories of my karate days. I'm so thankful I had taekwondo as a solid community in my life growing up to give me goals to strive for. I don't think youth are given enough of these opportunities today, and it is opportunities like these that can make all the difference in a person's life.