When I was nine years old, I had been studying Tae Kwon Do for five years and I had just received my first black belt. Being a black belt meant a lot more opportunities in the future if I decided to continue studying martial arts, which I did. There are two different kinds of black belts, the ones that don't take it seriously but go to class regularly and the ones that live at the karate school studying privately with the head instructor and starting to learn competitive martial arts. I was the second type.
At the age of ten, I was traveling to twelve different tournaments. I loved competing. It was the best experience of my life. I loved being on stage with my teammates and when we won, we celebrated and had a great time. We worked hard in between tournaments and got to know each other all really well and I have memories that I will never forget. They taught me a lot when I hung out with them - dedication, hardwork, reliability - skills that I would be able to use throughout my whole life.
When I entered my freshman year of high school, I was forced to give ALL of this up. High school marching band was a big committment and at my high school, it was part of your grade in advanced band. Most of my end of the year karate tournaments (the MOST IMPORTANT) were the same dates as band competitions or mandatory practices, fundraisers, etc. I was so upset. My teammates told me to quit and my band directors told me I would fail if I missed any competitions. I was so torn. It took me forever to decide. I really didn't want to give up music because it was also a passion of mine and I thought it would be the better choice for my college applications. My parents even agreed that I had been competing for the past 5-6 years that it was time to give it up.
Band taught me a lot of different skills that martial arts probably would never teach me but I'm still sad that I couldn't belong to both groups. It's kind of funny to think that I retired from the martial arts circuit at the age of 15. I miss it and always will.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment