My Black Belt Journey
adies and gentlemen, family and friends, welcome to my black belt journey.
I started my journey as a white belt on September 5th in 2019. It has been four and a half years since that day I got my white belt. I did Tigers when I first joined because I was too young to be in Karate For Kids. I don’t know how but I never obtained my orange belt.
Fast forwarding to April 29, 2021, that was when I received my camouflage belt and started sparring. At first it seemed scary but I soon realized sparring wasn’t scary. It was around this time when I had started leadership.
Leadership was really fun because we did cartwheels and weapons. I also learned some Grand Master quotes which were really fascinating. When I became a brown belt I started going to tournaments regularly. I think I also did one as a Tiger, but I forgot about it. When I became a red black belt I saw my black belt on the rack on the wall, and I was so excited to earn my black belt. One of my favourite times of red black was winning my Provincial Champion title in sparring and combat sparring. It was cool to become a Provincial Champ. For my rank test I went to the regional testing, and surprisingly, I was the only red black belt there.
There were 6 judges there: 2 Masters, 2 Senior Masters, and 2 Chief Masters. I definitely felt a twinge of nervousness when I performed my form in front of the black belts and the judges. Sparring was fairly easy but I was really nervous when it was board breaking time. At the school, my reverse side kick was not consistent but surprisingly, I broke both of my boards on the first try; the reverse side kick and the superman palm heel. I was very nervous about my test scores but I found out I had passed with an 8. Now after 4 and a half years of hard training I have finally achieved my black belt.
Finally, I want to thank my mom who supported me when I went to tournaments, my dad who supported and encouraged me, Mr. Raphael, and Master Davidson for helping me with forms, sparring, and combat sparring. Thank you for coming tonight,
- Charlie