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Going to karate always makes me feel happier and always distracts me from my other worries going on in my life. With quarantine happening, I took a 12-month break from karate to be safe and protect my high-risk family from the virus. That 12-month break took a huge toll on me, since interacting with people and socializing was one of my main sources of energy and motivation. After a long year, and finally getting vaccinated, I decided that it was finally time for me to return to karate.

I was very anxious and didn’t know what to expect after taking that long of a break. The first 10 minutes of being back, I finally felt comfortable again and felt very relieved to be back to my second home. I reminded myself of why I started in the first place and focused again on my black belt goals, which gave me the motivation to keep pushing forward.

With my younger sister joining in 2017, two years after me, I got offered a chance to help as a junior leader. I had a lot of free time, so my parents and I decided to give it a try. At first it was bumpy, but all new experiences like that have their ups and downs when you first start.
I had many amazing and experienced sense is to help guide me and teach me many many things that I could do during class, and outside of class too.

Black belt goals

I was always a super introverted, quiet kid that didn’t talk to many people. I never had many friends in school and kept to myself most of the time. With joining karate and getting the opportunity to help out at the dojo, I became more outgoing and talkative. The first time that the people around me noticed change was with my parents — they noticed that I was talking to them more often than usual. I had a quiet voice too; whenever a teacher told me to speak, I would have to repeat myself two to three times in order for them to hear me.

About a year after joining, I noticed that there was no need for me to repeat myself anymore, since my voice got louder after continuously attending practice two days a week. That progress gave me the confidence to push harder toward my black belt goals, knowing that personal growth isn’t just physical but also emotional and social.

Growing up, I always loved kids and interacting with them, and helping teach them karate has made me love them even more. At first it was a little awkward, since I didn’t really know how to talk to them nor interact with them, but after a little bit of time and practice, I got the hang of it pretty quickly. Working with kids and teaching them has also made me more open to learning new things and helped me find my love for teaching—another motivation that continues to fuel my black belt goals every day.
One of my career choices is to become a teacher, and helping at the dojo has definitely helped me find that I really enjoy teaching. “Miss Vivian”, the name that most people at karate call me, is one that I love and adore because I know that it’s a name that only gets called at one of the the places I’m most comfortable at. Teaching those energetic little kids always brings a smile to my face, especially after a long day at school. Since there aren’t many red belts at my dojo, sometimes certain students will see my belt and be astonished, asking me “Why is your belt red and black?”.   It’s always so funny to me, no matter how bad of a day I was having. One time a student said to me, “I went to school today.”, so I responded with, “Me too.”. The look on his face was priceless, he was so shocked that he didn’t even have any words to say. Another girl overheard and said, “Oh, are you a teacher?!”. I don’t think I’ve ever heard such unexpected words before. I’ve been waiting for the day I can finally be called, “Sensei Vivian” for so long, and now that it’s a few days away, it doesn’t even feel real anymore.  I’m so thankful for all my incredible instructors, talented classmates, understanding students, and supporting friends/family. Without them, I would not have been able to do anything I’ve accomplished today. With all of their kind and motivating words, I will work my absolute hardest at my black belt test.

Perseverance Through Nine Years of Karate Journey

black belt karate means perseverance, because I have been doing karate for 9 years. In those 9 years I have trained and tried my best to make up for the moment I receive my black belt. I have been passionate about karate since I was 3 and want to continue my journey through martial arts. When I was younger my parents wanted me to do something to be passionate about, and I always would see karate dojos and would want to do karate. My parents saw that and put me in Amerikick. I really enjoyed it and saw others with black belt karate like a Sensei and thought when I was a white belt that I could be one someday in the future.

I loved karate and was not bad at it either, but at one period of time I was not excited for it or just didn’t want to go. I missed many classes and did not do my best. My parents took me out of other sports at that time too so I didn’t do anything I could be passionate about besides school. Amerikick would send me messages saying things like, “When are you coming back,”. Then I decided to come back to karate a couple years ago and really started to enjoy it again. I was determined and was excited and looked forward to every class.

I was back in karate and really enjoyed it. I started to go to classes, sparring, and tricks class. Then I finally got my red belt and realized I would need to really be passionate about karate and not treat it like a thing I do when I have free time. I really do hope to get my black belt.

Life Lessons Learned Through Karate and the Meaning of a Black Belt

What black belt karate also means to me is that you have to work hard if you really want something that bad, no matter what it is. If you want a new bike that costs 200 hundred dollars and you only have fifty dollars and people will only help to get a little bit of money. Find a way yourself to raise the money like helping your neighbor with their errands, or if you’re old enough get a job. I believe that Amerikick has also taught me good life lessons shown through your journey of Karate.

Many people think karate is something useless in life and silly. They are wrong because it teaches you how to defend yourself against others trying to harm you. It could be a bully, mugger, or anyone really. It also teaches you to work hard, believe in yourself, and try something and you may succeed. Karate is not just another sport or fun thing to do, It teaches you many things you will use in your later life that will benefit you.

I conclude that karate is something that is a big part of my life and many others lives too. It is like riding a bike, if you don’t do it for a while you may be a little rusty but you will always remember some what of it. I don’t know what I would be like today without Americk in my life.

I can recall the moment I received my white belt. By that time I was already obsessed with the idea of earning a black belt Later, I achieved my goal received my black belt after six years. Between those two points in time, I have learned many things. However, the time from when I received my junior black belt to now, has allowed me to learn many things on a deeper level than just techniques and proper form. I have learned important virtues such as humility, respect, and discipline. All of these things I have learned support one of the most important things I will ever learn that not only applies to karate, but also to life.

earning a black belt, I have learned about qualities that may not seem very significant, but are actually very important to have. One of them is humility. There is always going to be someone better than me, and I have to accept it. Having humility helps me improve in that instead of focusing on how good I may think I am, I can focus on improving and taking advice from others. It is important to have an open mind to the idea that one can always learn something from anyone else, no matter what their age is or what their rank is. As someone who is very prideful, I am sometimes condescending and disrespectful. Which brings us to another important virtue. Respect. Respect goes hand-in-hand with humility. It is not only very important in karate, but also crucial in life. “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” The Golden Rule. Everyone has been told this at least once in his or her lifetime. I have learned to treat others with kindness, but I still need to work on it sometimes. Something else that I have learned as a black belt is to push myself harder to do better and be better. Most of the time, I can accomplish whatever my goal is, despite facing some difficulties. I’ve found that usually, the hardest thing is to convince myself that I can do something, rather than actually doing it. For example, many people are physically capable of running a five-kilometer race, but mentally, don’t want to do it and tell themselves they can’t. I have learned to tell myself that I can do something, even if it seems hard.

Earning a black belt

However, the most significant, paramount thing I’ve learned in my three years as a black belt, is that earning a black belt doesn’t make me perfect. Having a black cloth tied around my waist doesn’t prevent me from making mistakes. The transfer between red belt to black belt doesn’t make me the best person in the world. No matter what I rank, whether I am a teacher or a student; a black belt or a white belt, I will always make mistakes and will always have more space to become better.

What I want to stress in this essay is that no one is ever done improving. I used to think that once I reached my black belt, I would be done learning. That I wouldn’t need to practice anymore, that I could go around bragging about my sleek, fancy, black belt, and be this flawless person. But evidently, that’s not how it works. Receiving a black belt doesn’t mean that I’m done. Receiving a black belt is simply a new beginning. That explains why it’s called “Shodan” or “初段”, in Japanese, which means “beginning degree”. Everyone should have humility, respect, and discipline and all these other virtues, but to have the mindset that you can always have room to learn more will help you exceed in tremendous amounts. Receiving my black belt was just receiving another white. When I earn my next belt, I’ll have a new beginning. I will push myself further and I will learn more. And after that, I’ll see that I have so much more to learn.

“Every new beginning comes from some other beginning’s end.” – Lucius Annaeus Seneca

Receiving a black belt would mean everything to me. I’ve been doing karate for about 5 years, and I’ve always put a lot of time and effort into it. Through the past 2 years of being a red belt, it has taught me a lot about patience—the patience of waiting for a black belt. Over the past two years I’ve had so many obstacles in my way. The obstacles had stopped me from what I had really wanted to do, but I hadn’t believed in myself enough to do it. What I needed most was the black belt mindset—the mental strength to push through setbacks and keep going, even when things felt out of reach.

Around last year before June of 2018, I was preparing for my black belt test. After preparing for a while, I made a decision that I wasn’t ready to go through the tests of getting a black belt. I was too sick and my body wasn’t in the right condition to be able to take on those tests, so I gave myself time to recover from that illness, which wasn’t easy. But staying focused, patient, and committed—even while healing—was part of building the black belt mindset that continues to guide me.

I didn’t have enough blood in my body to be able keep my normal composure while exercising and my body weight was just too low. As I started getting better through the summer of 2018, I took my time to get myself together and start training hard again. Gradually I started going back to normal karate class and started to exercise more and memorize my belt sheets for a better and smoother approach to the black belt test. Now that I’ve begun and completed the physical part of the black belt test, I know I’m ready for the rest. With all of this said, having a black belt would mean everything to me, and would be a symbol of how hard I’ve worked for it, and how time consuming the work you put into it is. It would also be a symbol of respect for me and towards others because of just how much skill and hard work it takes to be a black belt. Now, with being so close to getting the black belt, it fuels me to work harder every day and to train myself to be a better person each day of my life. Having gone to karate for so long it has taught me a lot about respecting others as you would want them to respect you. I also learned that giving up is NOT an option and to keep moving and stay on your grind.

Something to finish this by saying that a black belt is only a reward for all of my hard work and commitment, but even though I get it, the hard work will never stop. I’ll keep going and keep working until I physically can’t anymore, and I’ll always remember what karate has taught me until the day I die. That’s the essence of the black belt mindset—knowing that earning the belt isn’t the end, but the beginning of a lifelong journey of effort, growth, and humility.

A black belt shouldn’t make you feel empowered or like you’re better than anyone else. Instead, it should be a reminder of the values you’ve learned along the way. The black belt mindset inspires us to strive for greatness in ourselves, stay grounded, and work harder every day of our lives.

what it means to earn a black belt

Hi, my name is Sara Mazzuca, I am a student at Amerikick EHT, New Jersey. I have been doing karate since I was 7 years old.  I remember my mom taking me to the karate school just to look at it, and right then I was actually able to take a trial class.  When I saw all the other kids I was like oh my gosh this is the type of sport that I have been wanting to do, so I stuck with it. Now I am here getting my Black Belt.

As much as I am physically strong I am also mentally strong.  If you want to be successful you will need to work hard and never give up and if you don’t give your blood sweat and tears you will not make it to the end.  Dedication, hard work, self control, discipline, and pride are the main key actions to accomplish your main goal.  Perseverance is the number one action to be successful because if I had wanted to quit every time it got hard, then I wouldn’t be where I am now.

Our sensei’s have been preparing us for this day our whole journey from white belt to red belt. Everyday they have been prepping us by having our daily warm up including; fifty to one hundred jumping jacks, twenty to twenty-five push ups, fifty or one hundred sit ups, or twenty V ups.  Because of this we have gained muscle and physical strength.  Another important part is how much our sensei’s push us when they know we can do more, but we are telling ourselves that we need to stop.  This is improving our mental health by being  able to depend on our sensei who is always counting on us.

A little more than halfway through my journey, we went onto virtual because of the coronavirus. Zoom classes were incredibly difficult because we were not able to be in person, and it was hard not being right in front of the sensei teaching us. We learned new skills, but when we got back into in-person classes, some of the things we had learned were wrong or backwards because of the way our instructor had to teach it through the camera.

Being on virtual took away our time to spar with each other, but we were able to do drills on Zoom — still, it wasn’t the same. But now we can go to the karate school and interact with other kids again. These challenges were all part of what it means to earn a black belt — pushing through obstacles, adapting to changes, and never giving up no matter how hard the path becomes.

When I get my black belt I will feel like I have accomplished something.  I will grow physically and mentally with my belt and with my skills. I will have very good memories of karate experiences.  People may think that we just  wake up and just know all the moves but “ Champions Are Not Born They Are Made.” This is what it means to earn a black belt to me.

When I began karate black belt journey , getting a black belt was not my intention. I had been taking my kids to Amerikick Delran for classes and I decided to take classes for some exercise. It was a gradual transition from there. Each belt was an accomplishment. I have enjoyed the classes and working out with my fellow classmates.

To me becoming a black belt means family. My son, Benjamin, is a Senior Black Belt and my daughter, McCoy, is a Junior Black Belt. Not only do my children take karate, my husband is a red belt as well. Both my children are on the Black Belt Demo Team for Delran. My family has taken this journey together giving truth to the quote, “The family that kicks together sticks together.” There is no better place to be after a long day at work than the positive atmosphere of Amerikick Delran. Whether it’s for a class or the social time with other parents while my kids have class. We have found the atmosphere at Amerikick to be family oriented and consider other members part of my family as well.

Katas are definitely my favorite part of the curriculum. I enjoy learning how self defense techniques can flow into another technique to make the kata itself. I remember watching higher belts perform their kata and thinking I couldn’t wait to get there. Performing katas becomes a sort of meditation, just you and the mat. Learning self defense techniques makes me feel like a badass, especially when Sensei Nick shows us extra moves or variations. I hope I’m never in a situation to have to use them, but glad I know them.

I have a knee condition that causes them to dislocate. I’ve had reconstructive knee surgery on my left knee to prevent this from happening. The recovery was a long and painful one and I have put off having the second surgery until absolutely necessary. As a result of this lifelong affliction, I suffer from PTSD, Anxiety and Depression. I found karate to help me break out of the fog and get me active again after surgery. The most difficult part for me is sparring or being the attacker for self defense techniques. Sensei’s have been completely understanding if I need to step off the mat for a minute or need an accommodation of some kind. Sensei Amy specifically is always offering positive encouragement to get me out of my head and back on the mat.

My karate black belt journey to this point hasn’t been perfect. Unfortunately, there were times that I let the negative thoughts win and took a break from classes. I don’t ever want my knees to deter me from accomplishing the things that I enjoy. I missed my fellow classmates and truly feel better after classes, which is why I always came back. Rather than fearing the test and worrying about my knees, I hope to embrace it and enjoy the experience with my classmates. I look forward to continuing karate black belt journey.

What The Importance of Black Belt means to me? I had to think about this. When I was five, I hated karate because my parents forced me to do it. Later I realized I enjoyed karate and working towards my next belt. I always felt a sense of achievement when I got to the next belt because I earned that belt by knowing my curriculum and working hard. I felt a huge sense of achievement when I graduated into the next class.

As I got older and started focusing more in class and working more out of class, I realized that the harder I worked the more I would accomplish and the quicker I would get my next belt. Then I started working harder in other aspects of my life such as school, squash, and rock climbing. Dedication and perseverance were only two of the qualities of a black belt, so I started trying to apply all the black belt qualities in my life. Even when I wasn’t a black belt, or training to be one, just the idea of it helped me in my life. That’s when I truly began to understand the importance of black belt—not just as a symbol of rank, but as a mindset that influenced everything I did. So, I think of the black belt as being an object, the belt, but it’s also an idea, which I’ve spent more than half my life trying to achieve.

For instance, one time in class we were doing a writing project and the teacher said we had to write two pages. Everyone else in the class grumbled and complained about how much work we had to do, but I just sat there because I thought it wasn’t that much work and it wouldn’t take me that long. That night I started writing my story and realized that I would need to write a little more than two pages. So, I wrote another page, and another page, and I kept writing until I felt the story was finished. I wanted to go above and beyond, just as I was trying to do in karate.

Another example of how the qualities and Importance of Black Belt that helped me improve my life is at karate. Before I applied the qualities of a black belt to other aspects of my life, I had to do it in karate. I wasn’t working super hard in karate… I wasn’t giving it my all… I wasn’t coming enough during the week. I was also lazy in class and sparring and was trying to get out of exercise as much as possible. Then I applied the qualities of a black belt to karate and everything changed. I got much better in sparring. I was getting stronger and more capable of doing the exercises. I started getting more stripes on my belt, and I started practicing karate as much as I could throughout the week.

Being a black belt is my goal. My goal to obtain the physical belt, and grasp the entire concept of it, so I’ll be better at karate, school, and other sports. The black belt being something I need to work for is a good thing because it supplies me with an objective that is incredibly hard to obtain and makes me work for it. All of this is a what a black belt means to me – an idea and achievement that must worked for and can only be earned by lots of effort.

In 2013 we moved from Philadelphia to Barrington NJ. I was four years old when I started Karate. One reason my parents wanted me to start karate was they noticed that I would let the other kids jump in front of me, while I was waiting my turn on the playground. My dad also wanted me to know how to defend myself from others. Being new to town my parents thought that Karate would be a good place for me to meet new people, to gain confidence and to be able to defend myself. Over the past eight years while I have taken karate classes I have learned that it takes courage, determination and confidence to earn a black belt. Karate has taught me a lot about bullies and defending myself and others.What Black belt means ? it mean that I put in  a lot of effort to reach my goal.

During my journey to earning my black belt I have become courageous. Sparring is one example. Sparring for me is a challenge.  It is not my favorite part of karate, but I have learned to cope with it. When I first started the thought of sparring bigger people frightened me. I was also nervous that I would hurt myself. Once I realized that all the gear would protect me I felt confident. I remember my first tournament sparring. It took a lot of courage to be able to go out in the ring for two mins and spar with another person who you do not know while others were watching.  Since there were not many girls who spar, I would end up sparring the boys or even older students. This helped with my courage, knowing I can face anyone any size or age. Karate and sparring has shown me that I can be courageous.

Determination is the quality that makes you continue to try something that is difficult. Karate has taught me that you need to be determined to become a black belt. There have been many days that I have felt like I wanted to quit and give up. It can be difficult to get to class two to three times a week, going to school and at times having softball games or practice all in the same week. With that going on, you can see how one might give up. Even through the tough weeks, I have never given up. Once the stressful weeks are over, I look back and think, wow, I am glad I stuck to it. Since I have become a red belt, we have faced many challenges. COVID being one, it forced us out of the studio for almost a year. I had to learn to adjust to taking classes by Zoom. It was difficult at first because I was trying to learn new self-defenses. It was hard not being in front of a mirror and being able to see my moves, but I was determined to do my best. One thing that keeps me determined is the saying in class, what black belt truly represents is a white belt who never quits.

Despite the obstacles, I constantly remind myself that what black belt signifies is not just about physical mastery, but about perseverance and the will to keep going, even when the journey gets tough.

Finally Karate has taught me to be a confident person. Without karate I feel like people could take advantage of me. I stick up for myself and my friends now. One way karate has helped me become confident is the defense training that I have learned. After studying all of my self defense, I am confident in my reaction time and knowing I could defend myself or others. I have the confidence to go up to someone and ask them questions or let them know my thoughts instead of putting my head down and walking away. Being a confident person can get you places not just in karate, but in life.

I’ve met people that stopped karate and I still see them today. I am grateful I stayed because those few people wish they stayed in karate and lack the traits I learned from karate as well. I’ve seen two of my friends from karate, Lena and Gracie, get their black belts and now it’s my turn to get mine.