Personal Narrative: The Karate Kid

My training in multiple martial arts under Sifu Marc Mcfann for the span of five years allows me to understand choreography for fight scenes and standard body movement immensely.

Starring in a six movie series, Rocky Balboa touched the hearts of countless Americans through his battles with other fictional boxers. In each successive film, Rocky was presented with life crises’, tough opponents, and his aging body. He came to define the notorious underdog continually drawing strength from previous obstacles to surpass odds and succeed. Rocky’s ability to keep moving forward, regardless of the challenge, is what made him who he is. Although my individual battle may be different, I mirror Rocky’s ability to constantly be persistent especially in regards to school and working out.

While in middle school Kip began to start getting into trouble in and out of school. He was picked on in school. This lead to him wanting to take martial art classes even

My black belt will help me fulfill this goal as it will give me a reason to stick to my goal. In karate class, the instructors over there didn’t wanted perfection, they wanted us to try our best. It will remind me not to give up. The black belt represents a level of appreciation, humanity, trust, life, love, courage, strength, knowledge, self-discipline, coordination, friendship, and willingness to do what is right. These character traits will help me to understand my patient and guide them with the right advice.

Many years later, my parents finally agreed to send me to a Taekwondo class. I could eventually wear my Taekwondo suits, and tie the belt that is the symbol of the levels; I could sweat and try my best to challenge my limits both physically and mentally.

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

“Techniques, forms, and self-defense” Once he said this I felt as if all the black belts eyes fell upon me. I gulped nervously to myself after trying to figure out how to successfully defend myself from three of the daunting, large black belts who could easily pummel me. I tried to remain calm and collected but, my right leg kept shaking vigorously which I got control of eventually. We began the techniques portion, all three of us went at the same time doing all of the same techniques. After successfully completing the first three, I felt more confident that I could easily get through

3 years ago I was a green belt in taekwondo. I liked taking taekwondo lessons and my goal in taekwondo was to reach a black belt. But my mini story is about when I was a green belt at a tournament at the Northglenn High School gym. Tournament day was a really fun day because all the taekwondo schools in the district got together to spar, and show what we learned to the other schools. The sparring was my favorite part of the tournament, I was not the best at sparring because I wasn’t aggressive enough as the other teachers told me constantly. But today I was doing really good in the sparring tournament and was beating all the opponents that I faced. I was getting really excited because if I kept doing really good I might get to the finals and win

For this biography I would like to talk about George St-Pierre. George St-Pierre, aka GSP is a professional mma (mixed martial arts) fighter and held the UFC world champ. GSP has a black belt in Kyokushin Karate, and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. George was raised in St-Isidore, in Quebec (a town of only around 2,000 people) and was bullied by older kids for years, when he was 7 his dad put him in Kyokushin Karate. St-Pierre has said “life isn’t like the movies, when you’re only 8 or 9 and they are 12 there is still only one of you and three of them you can’t do anything, that is the sad reality.” When he was 12, he watched Royce Gracie fight in UFC 1 and decided to dedicate his life to making himself better in every way that he could. GSP added boxing,

I used to do a martial art called So Bahk Do. I used to have fun, feeling proud and strong when I was doing it. It had gradually evolved into a task I participated in reluctantly rather than a hobby I looked forward to. As I walked up to the studio, which had been like a second home to me for seven years, I realized that I was frustrated and angry. Angry that I needed to give so much time and effort for something I had no desire to do. I could feel the constant weight of always going to So Bahk pushing down on my shoulders. I felt that it was finally time to lift that weight. I marched in through the front door, confident and resolute. Every component that my senses encountered- the voices, the starched white uniforms, the laughter, the familiarity -chipped away at my anger storm. When I saw my teacher, my emotions were suddenly hammered back into me. I was so familiar with her smile, her eagerness, and her air of peaceful confidence that I lost my train of thought.

Today, I am a black-belt in that specific art and have learned that perseverance and patience are the greatest virtues anyone can have. I have taken these lessons, and applied it to many other categories such as schooling, how I plan my life after high school, and how I plan my free time. Another life lesson that I have learned from my family is self-reliance. There have been many times where I would ask my parents for help on something to which they would respond, "figure it out." This taught me that I'm not always going to have help with the task at

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.

San Jose, hot, sweaty, and huge. This place was rich with culture, and this place would be where I would make it, or break it. I had landed three days before and woke to the gentle shaking from my grandma urging me to wake up. I tossed and turned then, it hit me, it was Day 1 of fighting. I got up and put my thin, white uniform on. After I finished dressing, I stood and stared at my black belt, neatly folded on the hotel room chair. I picked it up, tied it around my waist, and looked at myself in the mirror, this was it… My first Juniors as a black belt. Was I ready? Well, that was the million dollar question, wasn’t it.

Earlier in my book, i gave a list of reasons why martial arts fail to prepare people for self defense. I will elaborate on the topic in this chapter. Bruce Lee said it and now i’m going to repeat it - styles limit minds! Think about it. You pay for a class in Wing Chun, Wushu, Krav Maga, Judo, or any style and what do you learn? Forms, drills, techniques, moves, and rules. You spend countless hours practicing forms, never knowing what they are for. You spend almost no time applying them completely in combat. You are enslaved by the art. You get a slap on the wrist if you try to do anything outside of what the style entails. Too fat and don’t have enough muscle? You’ll get told to hit the gym. Too muscular? That's bad for your techniques as big muscles slow you down. What if you have the potential to be one of the fastest or greatest strikers in the world? What if you have the potential to put your brute strength excellent use in addition to performing the art? What if you could still fight at lightning speed despite your large size? What if you have the potential to do something extraordinary that’s never been done before? How do you figure out a way to accomplish all of that? Certainly not in your local martial arts school!

I love martial arts, I practice Judo and kickboxing. Judo has taught me a number of techniques and principles from which I have drawn vital lessons for my personal growth and career. I will talk through 5 of such principles and how they continue to shape my personal and career development.