Since I have gotten my black belt I have learned how to be confident. I learned leadership and teamwork. What I like about being a black belt is that there is more to learn, and I realized a lot about my family.
When I perform or I’m competing, I need to be confident. Doing karate isn’t just about flips and weapons, it’s also about how you present yourself to the judges or audience. Competing at a black belt level is hard because everyone is amazing. So, you need to be confident going in and going out. I also need to be confident when I talk to parents at the front desk. If they have a question I can’t answer, I cannot run and hide. I must, again, present myself in a good way. A confident way. Teaching is another thing I need to be confident with. I need to make sure I know what I’m doing in my head and be comfortable with it if I want my class to be good.
I also need leadership when I’m teaching. I must let my class know who is in charge and let them have fun at the same time. There is leadership too in regular classes. That is leading by example for lower belts. They look up to the older kids, not just black belts. Being a higher belt is fun, but there is also a responsibility too. I use leadership while being on the black belt demo team also. I make sure everyone is working hard and I also lead by example in that in addition to other classes.
Teamwork ties in with demo as well as leadership. One person on the team does not do everyone’s job. We are a team and we work together to make each other better. The extravaganza is also in need of teamwork. My karate school has sixteen people testing for their black belt. We need teamwork if we are going to be performing well together. We must know who is where and when because it is important to communicate as a team.
What I like about being a black belt is that you never stop learning. I am excited to keep learning new katas and self-defenses. Once I get my Sr. black belt, I will still be doing classes and not just teaching. Being in a class is just as fun as teaching it.
My Family is a big part of why I do karate. My grandfather, Sensei Steve, started karate in 1974. If he never made my mom, Sensei Kim, and her siblings do karate, I would not be getting my second black belt. StevieLynn, my sister, is getting her black belt along with many of my other friends who are close like family. My father did karate when he was younger, too. Plus my step-dad does martial arts. My whole family does or did karate once in their life.
To sum up, I have learned confidence, leadership, and teamwork since I have gotten my black belt. What I like about black belts from now on is that you will never stop learning. And being a black belt thought me a lot about my instant family. Karate isn’t just about your skill level, it’s also about how confident you look. Leadership is a part of this essay because it is used in teaching and demo. All things I learned since black belt. Teamwork is part of the extravaganza and demo as well. I am very excited to continue learning new curriculum in a few weeks from now on until I am done with karate. And karate is a huge thing in my family and my family is part of why I do what I do.