My Black Belt Narrative

As an eleven year old, a black belt in taekwondo had been my holy grail. A holy grail that would be only the beginning. From the young age of five years, I knew I wanted to do taekwondo. Through my journey I have fallen . I have cried. I have bled. This journey, that quite frankly I hated, has been my true love.try a journey From hearing,” You will have to fall one thousand times before you can become a black belt.” to,” Honey you just cannot do it.” I fought. I learned to get far past my fears and fight the horrors ahead of me. My journey towards my black belt has been my life, now I realize that it is just the beginning. It all started on my fifth birthday. I was playing with my new Gameboy, a very rare toy at the time, and lying on our

Once I got my black belt, I didn’t know what else to do. My purpose was fulfilled. At the age of twelve, I went to my first competition. I lost, tragically. The final score was 22-1. I felt broken. I said I would never fight again. I thought I was done. My mom thought differently. She told me I had to fight again. Four years later I am, for the third year the oregon state champion, the national champion, and the pan american silver medalist. Although by now I’m a little bit tired of taekwondo, I am glad I got to spend my childhood doing the thing I loved. I hope that I can keep on going and do the thing I want to do for my highschool years. Our choices define us; but the choice to start taekwondo, wasn’t my own. I started training from the age of five. I knew I wanted to be great in taekwondo. As I became a more skilled Aficionado I was put on the test for a black belt. From the early days of watching youtube videos to catch up for missed classes, I fought. Through the years I have heard things like,” Honey you just cannot do it.” I ignored every person calling me obsessed and crazy. My journey to my black belt defines me. And although it was just the beginning, it was not my