Descriptive Essay : Karate Floor

Throughout high school and undergraduate studies, I have tried to achieve academic excellence, improve my athletic abilities and become a better employee at a law firm. Although several experiences have shaped me as an individual, I believe that wrestling set the foundation for most of my improvements and accomplishments. I first started practicing wrestling when I was six years old and competing when I was nine. Although I was training four times a week, I failed to win anything for several years. I became less confident in my abilities, but I did not give up on the sport. I wanted to prove to myself that I can compete for medals with other athletes. Poor performances motivated me to work harder in practices, spectate older wrestlers and exercise

Through my life I’ve had many special accomplishments, but the one that meant the most to me was the time when I got my second degree black belt in Tae-Kwon-Do. I currently am a second degree black belt with 8 years of consistent training. My journey through this experience was not at all easy. In fact, I had to go through much dedication, time, and sacrifice. My training involved me going to practice 4 days a week, not including tournaments, weekend practices, and times when I went to practice when I wasn’t required to. All this training prepared me for tests that I had to earn in order to get my next belt; many people have failed, but I’ve never failed a single test. In my preparation for becoming a second degree, I’ve also had to assist

My opponent is my teacher and my ego is my enemy. During the beginning of 9th grade I had always wanted to get a membership at a gym and so happen that my cousin started working at this new gym called UFC, she invited me to check it out. Monday in the afternoon, I went to the gym and from the moment I first stepped foot in that gym I loved the vibe there. Everybody pleasantly welcomed me. I first started taking DUT (Daily Ultimate Training) classes which worked more on strength and conditioning. Then several different classes, however the one class that caught my attention the most was the Brazilian jiu-jitsu class. Brazilian jiu-jitsu (BJJ) is a martial art and combat sport that teaches a smaller person how to defend himself against a larger adversary by using leverage and proper technique

The first time I ever fought was with Shayla and she is the only one who has ever made me cry in karate. For my first fighting class, my dad had bought me a helmet shield, afraid that I would get hurt. Ironically, the helmet shield hurt me more than it did protect me. When I fought with Shayla, she had punched me in the head and my helmet shield became loose hitting me in the chest every time she punched me. It hurt so much. I cried and got bruises all over my chest. This made me afraid of fighting. A few years later when I was a blue belt, my dad had accidentally signed me up for fighting at the tournament. Since he had already paid for it, he made me go fight. This was my first tournament, my first time fighting in since Shayla fought me, and I was terrified. As I sat down around the ring waiting for my turn, I saw one girl was beating everyone in the division. She had the fanciest kicks and the fastest movements. She even made three girls cry and I was knew I didn't want fight her, but ultimately I was chosen to be her last competitor. I was actually surprised at how well I did, but without Sensei Jose's help, I wouldn't have been able to beat her. For the first few minutes, I was kicked in the face a couple of times but then someway, somehow I scored a point by side kicking her, nothing fancy. I did that a couple of times, and then all of a sudden I was in the lead. I was winning.

When I started Jiu Jitsu it changed how I felt about being more social. One sunny day in a hot summer me I have sandy blonde hair and blueish green eyes I prefer to read books and be in loud places, my sister Cheyenne a fifteen year old that has blonde hair and blue eyes she loves to read books and pink items, and my nephew Nate is a hyper thrill seeking seven year old were all sitting on the couch trying to find something to watch. Going through the boring choices of movies we couldn’t choose anything then I flicked of the tv, and turned to Chey and Nate let’s go do something this is too boring I said with a little-bit of enthusiasm. Then we went on a hunt to see some fun things we could do we found Jiu Jitsu. Chey and I talked to Mom about our special activity, and she said she would think about is. Later that night I fell asleep hoping she would say yes.

A popular saying around every gym, field, track, and weight room is that it, no matter what activity “it” is that a sportsman is participating in, is ten percent physical and ninety percent mental. For the kids who hear this daily, it is nothing more than a hollow statement a coach says to make them feel better about being physically subordinate to their opponents. I have heard this mantra throughout my life on the baseball field, football field, track, gymnasium, in the weight room, and on the wrestling mat. Just like those poor aforementioned kids being yelled at by their coach, this statement just bounced off me, never finding a sticking place among all my doubt and insecurity. Nowhere was this more true that on the wrestling mat; Coach Jaimez has told my teammates and I this countless times, and not once throughout my first four years of wrestling did this ever sink in. I am ashamed of this, as those athletes in the know, whether they be in High School or draped in their nation’s flag competing for a gold medal, know that this statement could not be more true for the sport of wrestling. Wrestling is a mental sport that is determined by a competitor’s decision to focus on himself rather than his opponent and the competitor’s confidence in himself and his potential to succeed.

As I entered my freshman year of year high school, I was very nervous, yet excited to begin deciding my path in life, such as where I wanted to go to college or what job I wanted when I was an adult. At this point, I had some staple skills established, but nothing like I currently have. The year that I decided to try out for the wrestling team, my older brother was a junior at the time and he influenced me to join and said that it was a really fun sport that would help me to grow both physically and mentally.While I hesitated at first, I eventually decided that I would give it a shot. That decision was one of the best decisions I have yet to made. The first practice came, and at the time, it was one of the most

At 10pm we sat silently in my mother’s car. I had just spent the entire day competing in a wrestling tournament, and not well I might add. I was frustrated, and ready to quit. My 8th grade wrestling season had been a disaster, and I decided I was done. But I had been wrestling for half of my life, for 7 years and my mother knew this was difficult for me. She looked at me and said, “Just give us one season of high school wrestling Justin. I have a feeling you will really like it if you just give it a chance.” I looked at her cautiously, “One season. Fine.” Ordinarily, participating in an extra season of wrestling wouldn’t sound serious, but I thought it was. Toward the end of middle school I weighed only 75 pounds; I was small for my age. In high school the lowest wrestling weight class is

Ever since I was eight years old I have been wrestling all year, every year, almost daily. I never thought that my wrestling career would extend past junior high or even into high school. I started doing pretty good at tournaments and practices so I thought I might actually make it in high school and become a successful wrestler. Before I graduated from junior high, I had decided that the high school that I was going to be attending didn't have the best wrestling program so I moved to another school nearby which had a renowned wrestling program called Washington Community High School in Illinois. It was a tough decision, but I eventually told my parents that I wanted to move to Washington in order to keep wrestling. They agreed surprisingly and that's when the journey began.

I started off young when I began to like wrestling. I would wrestle with my giant doll of the WWE wrestler Randy Savage. My parents would see me all around the house wrestling with that doll, and everyday they knew I was going to wrestle. As soon as middle school cam along I joined, I wasn’t the best in those years but I still tried my hardest. Then highschool came along, my skill from middle to high school grew tremendously. In 2006, I graduated with three district Championships and two regional Championship titles.

After Freshman year of highschool I started to slowly drop sport after to sport to help me gain time in the off season to make up for all the lost time in previous years. By doing so this helped me engage in more hours of off season workouts and tournaments. While doing so I very slowly started to realize that if I continued working hard and persevering through harder practices and harder workouts, that it wasn't too late to catch my opponents. That i would be able to be better than my opponents not only in skill level, but overall shape and conditioning. That wrestling was not about being the strongest, or most athletic in the room.

As a member of the wrestling team, I developed the physical toughness to become a member of the U.S. armed services. There, I learned what hard work was. After running as a team for miles on end, we moved to the mats to work on individual technique. We wrestled and struggled till we couldn't move. It was more about outlasting the other guy for six minutes straight in a true match, therefore the guy most in shape won. When the coach

Day one of Taekwondo, the Korean art of self-defense, I felt like a snail with prospective ninja skills ready to come out of my shell. After every punch or kick, a booming “Kiiihaaapp” resonated from every kid. Sensei Mohin

Julie: Hello, and welcome to Black Belt Interviews which will be in Black Belt Magazine. I am Julie Smith and today we have special guest Ed Parker. Mr. Parker has created a style called Kenpo Karate which belongs to the American system. Mr. Parker is fondly called as “Father of American Kenpo”. It is very obvious that many people look up to Mr. Parker as a great martial artist. Today, we are here to ask him about his inspiration and reasons for creating this style of martial arts.

As I got turned onto my back, fighting for my life, the referee’s hand slaps the mat, and my career of wrestling was over. Throughout all the times I worked out and practiced as hard as I could, my only desire for wrestling was to go to states. Knowing I had the potential, my wrestling coach used life lessons to motivate me throughout the obstacles I faced. Although I never went to states, the lessons I’ve learned from the sport apply to any desire I have in life today. Furthermore, I’ve learned that “some desire is necessary to keep life in motion” to accomplish the goals I have in life.