NW School of Martial Arts
Here is a black belt essay from Tyler! Tyler is an adult provisional black belt candidate for 1st degree in taekwondo. In this essay, he talks about how different martial arts training was from his childhood ideals. He also talks about the importance of persevering in the face of his own limitations, and looking for the deeper meaning in his martial arts training–love it!
Check out Tyler’s black belt essay after the jump to find out what he really thinks it’s all about!
Kassidi is a provisional black belt candidate for 1st degree. Here’s her black belt essay on what it means to be(come) a black belt. Through her training, Kassidi has learned how to be persistent. Her black belt essay reveals a little of what it’s taken for her to make the long journey to black belt.
Although she mentions making mistakes, tough times, & getting knocked down, she also emphasizes that black belts respond by getting back up and handling the negative with grace, self-control, and perseverance.
“The black belt around my waist does not represent who I am. It represents who I can be.”
My journey to black belt was not an easy one.
Shawna is a provisional black belt candidate for 1st degree. Here’s her black belt essay! I love how she talks about what a black belt DOES, how they interact with others and how they treat their own goals.
Kindness, awareness, respect, and persistence–check out Shawna’s essay after the jump to find out what she really thinks it means to be a black belt!!
A bit of introduction here: NWSMA holds a “black belts only” class once a month. We split the class time between practicing advanced material and talking about what it means to be a black belt and an instructor.
They are assigned a reading the week before class, and this month I gave them an excellent piece from Black Belt Magazine, titled, “How Karate Sensei Can Avoid Mixed Messages in the Dojo.”
Jasmine is a provisional black belt candidate for 1st degree. Here’s her black belt essay, which tells the story of how she got interested in martial arts and how much she’s grown since then.
Jasmine was 12 at the time she wrote this, but she makes some observations that are really quite mature (I’m sure this is not surprising to anyone who knows her and her family). I highlighted a few quotes that I really liked.
Before I started Tae Kwon Do, I watched the movie “Kung Fu Panda” in a theater. I thought all the tricks and maneuvers the “Furious Five” and “Po” did in the movie were awesome, and I decided I wanted to do Kung Fu. At that point in my life, I was eight, so I also thought that ninja-like abilities were the thing to have.
After the initial inspiration, my parents found a 2-week deal at Trinity Martial Arts in Arlington. At the end of those “nuf”* two weeks, my siblings and I made the decision to stick with it, and later my dad joined too (mom stuck with her yoga). Chris Aprecio, the instructor, made it look like being a black belt meant you could do cool things.
It’s been a long time since then, but now I know that being a black belt doesn’t just mean to have a black belt and be athletic (and that becoming a black belt doesn’t make you a superhero).
Nathan is a provisional black belt candidate for 1st degree. Here’s his black belt essay, exploring what black belt means to him.
I really love this essay, and I love that Nathan is such a strong example for his kids and for other students in our school. I took the liberty of highlighting a couple quotes that really resonated with me. Enjoy!
The goal of reaching black belt has been no small task and one that NWSMA does not take lightly. For this, I am grateful. I feel to wear a black belt, it should mean something both to the wearer of the belt and to those around them. A black belt should never be a stop along one’s path in life, but rather a continuous road in itself, a life long attitude of learning, humility and challenge.
The training at NWSMA has been just this. It has been intense, focused and very, very fruitful to me personally. I have gained so much understanding, strength, and growth from my time with them both in the martial arts and outside it, that it’s hard to describe concisely all the benefits. However, what black belt truly means for me, now, is the same as what it meant to me when I started this journey about 5 years ago with my children. Black belt, to me, means family.
When I look at a black belt candidate–a high-ranked student who is getting close to black belt–I usually rely on a gut feeling to tell me whether or not they’re ready for black belt.
By black belt, I mean 1st degree. Provisional black belts are not yet black belts, they are on probation and have to prove themselves worthy of that rank. By “candidates” I mean everyone from brown belt to provisional black belt–people who aren’t yet there but are trying to get there.
Today, instead of relying on my gut, I want to try to articulate some of the things I’m looking for in black belt candidates: all brown, advanced brown, and provisional black belts.
Caitlin (who is different from the site author) is a provisional black belt candidate for 1st degree. She and her younger sister have been with NWSMA for about a decade. Here is her essay about what it means to become a black belt!
When you think of a black belt, what is it that you think of? Well if you’re like most people, you think of a black belt as someone who, obviously, wears a black belt and is good at martial arts. If you’ve watched movies with people like Bruce Lee in them, you even have a visual. These things all are parts of what a black belt does and wears, even what they can sometimes become, but not what they are.
Andrew is a provisional black belt candidate for 1st degree, but has also received his black belt in Arnis. Here is his essay on what it means to be a black belt!
I first went to Tae-Kwon-Do in September 2010. My parents took me there so I could get prepared for hockey. They wanted me to practice Tae-Kwon-Do so I could get prepared for hard hits and the roughness that hockey is known for. I did not know anything about Tae-Kwon-Do. The only martial arts, like Karate, I ever saw was from watching it on TV or at the movie. So when I started I loved the different forms and moves, and the fact I could protect myself. I also started to practice Arnis and loved the weapons forms, and stick manipulation. So I quit hockey and started practicing more Tae Kwon Do and Arnis.
A black belt to me is just not something that holds your pants up. It is a belt that shows you have respect, honor, courage, and integrity. All of these gave me strength to pursue and challenge my fears. Now I can face and conquer them.
I’m grateful for what I’ve learned. I thank all the people that have helped me get to where I am now.
Tae-Kwon-Do is now part of my life. It will always be in my heart. Tae-Kwon-Do has taught me to take on challenges like school work, chores my Mom and Dad give me, as well as everyday living and to face it head on and not fear it but accept it.
Being a black belt is hard, but it is great being one. It is great helping others. Other students give you respect for being a black belt. You also have to give them respect too. Always encourage others to keep going. Like I said being a black belt is hard, but it’s also great being one.
I have been in Tae-Kwon-Do for 2 to 3 years. There have been times I wanted to quit. It was so hard or because I hated it. The reason mostly was it was getting boring to me same exercises over and over, repetivness, not realizing I was honing my skills to become better, stronger and faster. Now that I have my provisional black belt, I just want to keep going.
What does it take to be a black belt? You need to have respect for others. You need to honor your family, friends, and others. But what does it really take? Never giving up, never quitting what you are doing. Most importantly all the other challenges life gives you.
I would like to thank Kio-Bi-Nim Chris Apprecio for teaching me what I need to do to be where I am now. I would like to thank my family and friends for encouraging me to keep going on. I would also like to thank other instructors passing what they have learned down to me, my instructors, and everyone else.
I’ve mentioned before that we have all candidates for 1st degree write an essay, sharing their thoughts on what black belt means to them. Here is karate black belt candidate Miya’s essay–she’ll be testing this week, so encourage her if you see her in class!
When I first began training, I envisioned a black belt student as being some sort of super-human ninja with magical zen powers! I thought to myself, “There’s no way I could ever be that, it’s impossible.” However, as I trained and practice alongside these senior students, I began to see that you didn’t need to be a demigod to earn a black belt. I got to really know these students and discovered, they were just regular people. They had jobs and responsibilities outside the dojo, they got tired, and sad, and even mad from time to time. They also had regular problems that they had to deal with, just like you or me. They weren’t ninja master’s who spent every hour of everyday training in the mountains like I first thought they did. For the first time, a black belt actually seemed attainable.