More Than a Coach The most important teacher I have had was not in an academic setting. Mr. Larsen was my taekwondo coach for about 5 years. I trained under him since I started at the age of 8. I spent most of my childhood training with my coach and my other teammates. At one point, I was at the gym for 6 days of the week. Mr. Larsen taught me some of my most valuable life lessons. He taught me how to my confident, disciplined, and determined. One of first lessons that Mr. Larsen taught me was to be confident in my abilities. When I was younger I was way more introverted and shy. I did not think that I was good at taekwondo. I just went through the motions and I did not really try my best. I was only there because my dad made me go. Slowly, Mr. Larsen encouraged me and helped me to become more confident. He helped me to refine my technique and my work ethic. I began to look forward to each class because I wanted to improve. This really helped to boost my confidence in my abilities and made learning taekwondo more enjoyable. …show more content…
Larsen taught me was discipline. In taekwondo, discipline is an important factor. We must know when it’s time to be serious and when it is okay to play around. We were taught to do what we were told and to focus on the work. If we failed to do so we would have to deal with the consequences. I used to get in trouble for fooling around at the wrong time. Slowly, I learned to recognize the situations where I had to be serious. The discipline that I learned in taekwondo not only helped me to succeed in taekwondo, but it also helped me become a better overall person. I am now able to prioritize my responsibilities and behave in serious