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 half way of my journey, we went onto virtual because of the corona virus. 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 but it still wasn’t the same. But now we can go to the karate school and can interact with other kids again.
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 a black belt means to me.