I’ve been doing karate for a little more than nine years at Amerikick Langhorne. I am senior black belt and part of the demo team. Karate has made me push myself through tough situations and become stronger. At karate I have learned many things, especially in the last couple of years since I have been a black belt. For one I have learned katas and self defense, but I have also learned a lot about the performance aspects of karate. I’ve been competing in extreme forms and nunchucks, and have improved a lot. Another thing I’ve improved at is sparring.
Since becoming a black belt I have learned new katas, such as Mass Attacks, Long 2, Tiger Set, and Short 3. Katas have made my stances, punches, kicks, and blocks a lot sharper. My stances have gotten lower, my punches have gotten more powerful, my kicks are higher, and my blocks are stronger. Katas have helped me in other ways. When going over Short 3 we learn all of the self defense moves, which helped me with self defense. I have learned how to teach myself stuff because of katas. I learned all of Mass Attacks from watching a YouTube video, I also used this technique to help learn some of my self defense moves.
As a black belt I have been able to learn more advanced self defense moves such as Turtle Breaks Stilts. I have learned more takedowns and locks. I have learned knife and ground defenses which have been pretty new to me since receiving my Amerikick black belt. I learned two man defenses when I was a junior black belt. Because of the new techniques and more experience I feel better in my ability if I get in a fight.
Since being a black belt I have learned a lot more about performing in tournaments. I joined the demo team as a black belt and have started competing on my own. I’ve been working one on one with Sensei Andrew to work on my forms and tricking. I have gotten my hand a lot faster and sharper with nunchucks and without. I have improved with my tricking as well, I have been able to land backflip and roundoff flash kick consistently for a while. I have also improved with tricks with nunchucks. Recently I have been catching more advanced releases, such as the double spin.
In sparring, I have improved a lot. My movement and strikes have gotten faster and stronger. I have learned how to get the opponent into a pattern and changing it to get points. I have gotten better at finding patterns in the other persons strategy and getting past what they are doing to get points.
Overall, I have learned a crazy amount since receiving my junior black belt. In knowing more katas and self defence but also sparring and performing. I have by far learned the most in performing, I have gone from losing most of the time to getting all golds in the last tournament.