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What Karate Means To Me

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What Karate Means To Me What is karate? How do you define karate? I believe all martial artists ask themselves this, but there is no definitive answer: karate can be of many things. It can be a sport, an extra-curricular, a hobby, a way to exercise, and so much more. To me, karate has been a very influential part of my life. Some may be surprised because I didn't say karate is the way of life or karate is life. I believe life consists of multiple things but life wouldn't be life to me without karate. So far, in my training at Manuel's Renshinkan Karate Dojo for the past 8 years, there have been many memories I am fond of, some more than others. My greatest accomplishment in karate so far is winning a kicking contest in class. I remember …show more content…

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. …show more content…

In addition, because of my young age, higher expectations will be given; therefore, more pressure will be put on me and certain tasks will be more difficult for me to accomplish. However, when I help teach the lower ranks, I can help pass on the knowledge that was given to me by all of my instructors that has helped me become who I am today. I can also help teach students differently since I am younger and can relate to what they are experiencing; therefore, teaching them in a more modern and relatable

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