Personal Narrative: Aikido

Sometimes success is only found in utter exhaustion. Ever since I started practicing Aikido, a Japanese self¬defense based martial art, I have changed and grown in ways I never would have expected. Dedication, criticism, and defeat have transformed the timid girl I once was into a leader who refuses to give up despite the obstacles I have to face. My black belt test training began the day I joined aikido. Sensei handed me my white belt with the promise that diligence and discipline would lead me to the next belt. I yearned for a black belt, but I knew that nobody was just going to hand it to me. Class met three times a week, with an hour and a half of class for the younger students, and an hour and a half of class for the older students.

The younger kids would ask me questions about their techniques that I sometimes had to ponder before answering. Their questions prompted something within me to question my own techniques and focus on the small details I might have missed while practicing myself. Teaching the young Aikido students also gave me a sense of leadership. When Sensei wasn’t immediately available to answer one of Messimer 2 their questions, they would come to me. I could then instruct them and even demonstrate a technique if they needed to see it. Before I started Aikido, I was an extremely shy individual, but teaching the kids helped me come out of my shell. Speaking in front of those kids gave me the confidence I needed to interact with people of all ages in the class, which in turn allowed me to learn to speak in front of my peers at school. After breaking my habit of being shy, I eventually learned to express myself through my techniques. I allowed them to become my own by adding in extra strikes or modifying them slightly to make them easier to perform on different body types. This personalization of techniques led to me becoming more confident and

I’m proud of you.” Having never been a person to be assertive in any way, this was a huge accomplishment. In order to be successful in Aikido, one must be assertive and confident in themselves. That one comment fueled my desire to own the mat every time I stepped foot in the dojo in order to achieve success. Many laborious hours of training and teaching the children eventually led to me earning my brown belt with a black center stripe, the last belt before black belt. I had exactly one year and one month to prepare for black belt test day. Weeks that were once packed with nine hours of Aikido turned into weeks of cramming at least twelve hours in, not including the road trips to other dojos for training. Although some days I came home completely drained and smelling as if Messimer 3 I had spent hours at the gym, I knew that I had a set list of techniques to prepare for the test and a limited time to accomplish them. During this time, I had to deal with more criticism than I ever had to before. Many black belt individuals came to help me prepare for the test and tore my techniques apart. They made me change some aspects and add others, all in hopes of making my