Heart pounding, adrenaline rising, extreme butterflies in my stomach, cold sweat, discomfort and fright were only some of the crazy things I was feeling at this moment. I was getting ready on the side of the mat. There was a lot going on, people running back and forth to get equipment, some kids where getting nervous breakdowns. I remember seeing a kid crying and screaming at his mother that he couldn’t do this, he ran out of the gymnasium. All of this commotion got me nervous. I had no clue how to get ready for a fight. I was ten years old and my first karate fight was going to start soon. I was afraid to lose. It was hard to think about victory. I can honestly say this experience made me stop giving up. Before a fight, I usually don’t do anything except wait in a corner and stay quiet. I am always nervous to enter a competition because I am afraid to lose. I was thinking to myself that I don’t want to have gone all the way to Rochester, which is in upstate New York, just to lose. Thinking about this got me even more scared to enter the ring. The fear I had right before this fight is hard to reproduce, It won’t happen twice in my lifetime. My legs were shaking so much I couldn’t stand strait which is why I think I lean on a wall every time I am nervous. My arms felt glacial, I felt as if I was in the North Pole sticking my two arms in freezing water. The air was different; there was a mixture of hell and heaven in the same contained area. Sadness, happiness and anger were all in one place. At last I breathed in and told myself not to think negatively before a fight. A friend of mine walked up to me I knew him because he came from the same organization as I did. He was about sixteen. His name was Yoshiyagi but everybody called h... ... middle of paper ... ...ses. I feel that when I win, now I feel as much happiness as I do sadness. When I hold up that trophy, I think of them as well. My first Karate fight also ended up being my first win and I learned some new stuff that day. The kid I fought ended up being a good friend of mine. In fact till this day we are sparring partners. This experience helped my motivation to do things, to not give up and that in Martial Arts you have to get hurt. The amount you take is the amount you gain. It’s better to get hurt sometimes and feel pain rather than to be someone who avoids getting hurt and thinks their good. There is no easy way to get better, there is no shortcut. I have fought so many fights, I have lost and I have won, I have wept and laughed, smiled and frowned, I have hurt and I have been hurt, I have disappointed and impressed. But I have not yet gone to college.
Then, high school came along and I received a rude awakening that I was no longer top dog on the wrestling team. I lost more matches that first year of highschool wrestling then I had my whole junior high career combined. I was devastated that year I thought that I would never want to wrestle again. However, when wrestling rolled around that next year I was the first in line to show
When we first arrived I’d thought we’d taken a wrong turn and went to a traveling gypsy convention by mistake. The whole field outside the school was filled with tents of various sizes and colors. 200 wrestlers, about thirty of which were girls, filtered about the area. As my soon-to-be teammates and I headed to the first practice, anxiety gnawed at my stomach like a dog with a bone (FL). I wanted to impress everybody, and prove that I could make it in this sport. Before we started, the coach patted me on the shoulder. “I’ve got your back all right.” he told me. I smiled and nodded. At least one person was looking out for me.
There is no other feeling like that feeling you get when the crowd is roaring, because of something you personally have just achieved. To get to those glorious moments in life that you have been dedicated to, whatever it is you are wanting to succeed in whether it is sports, music, acting, and so on, but when you reach that moment of glory you will remember that point for the rest of your life. It all began when I was in fifth grade when my dad was looking for a place that I could box at and could not find a club near us, but ended up coming upon a wrestling club called, Alabaster Youth Wrestling Association at the time which is now known as the Warrior Wrestling Club. So my dad came up to me that day I got back from school and said, “ Hey bud, I found a wrestling club in Alabaster lets check it out.” After that, practice my dad fell in love with the sport and I did as well, because I was a natural when it came to wrestling.
The manner in which a kid’s parents react to failure, as she says, is “as crucial as celebrating their success.” The first step to allowing children to realize it is completely fine to lose is having a positive attitude as their superior and guardian. Children look up to and imitate their parents’ actions and beliefs. If parents accept failure as a way to succeed and enhance their skills, then their child will believe the same perspective. Sarah’s parents, wildly upset when her Little League team lost to their rivals, rambled to her about all his errors. They didn’t accept failure as a stepping stone to achievement. Adhered to her parent’s same perspective, Sarah viewed defeat as a weakness. Thinking less of her capability, she didn’t bother practicing to better his performance. At the start of the next season, she didn’t sign up for any sports and became depressed. A kid’s self-esteem plays a vital role in the development of their skills and success. The perspective in which a child views herself affects her effort and performance. Trophies are seen “as vindication” or a justification towards children who have already developed a high-self-esteem. They feel it is what they deserve, which serves as evidence of how great they already view themselves. Participation trophies that aren’t deserved hinder a child’s esteem and effort even more. The praise that wasn’t particularly earned gravitates their minds towards
Taekwondo is for those who are audacious, enterprising, and intelligent. It is a sport that utilizes the subtle art of studying, probing, and finally attacking with a complex maneuver all aimed at the goal of undermining the opponent. Back then when I was a purple belt, I never really grappled the concept because I thought Tae-Kwon-Do was just another sport to play. However, a few belts later, a shocking event occurred and it changed my whole perspective about the it. I started shaping up, improving and eventually, I would go on to graduate as a black belt in the upper quartile. Similarly, characters from the book The Things They Carried, by Tim O’Brien, faced events much like mine. The soldiers were unfocused and
I had little to no motivation for a while and thought that maybe wrestling wasn’t the sport for me. I had shown promise in practice but as soon as I got on the mat for a tournament or duel I just drew a blank. I wasn’t executing any of the techniques I had learned after so many repetitive drills. I wasn’t the only one that had faced such miserable losses but it felt like it. My teammates helped me through my rut by giving me additional advice during practice and being in my corner while I wrestled matches. It was a great feeling knowing that I had people who had my back whenever I needed help. The wrestling team was a close knit group that dealt with all our problems together. We worked hard and played hard together till none of us could go any further. We were each other’s motivation, rivals, and family on and off the mat. If I had any doubts about a match my team thought the exact opposite and made sure that I understood why they believed so. But what made us a strong unit was the fact that we had similar goals and values. None of us wanted to lose and planned to make it past districts. We all wanted to take home hardware not only for our own self recognition but also to bring back a trophy to put on our principal’s desk who just so happened to love the wrestling program about as much as our team. All of us valued the effort that was put into every early morning practice so no one looked down on each other. The connection we had as a team made my experience wrestling all the more worth
“To conquer frustration, one must remain intensely focused on the outcome, not the obstacles.” I still remember this quote from Within I Rise by T.F. Hodge because this specific quote has helped me through my long and winding journey toward the black-belt. It started with my friend in fifth grade showing me what he learned in karate class the day before, and me asking my mother if I could join. My brother and I went to our first class and I instantly fell in love with the sparring, grappling, fighting combinations, self-defense, and of course, learning to use nunchucks. It was not long before I had my eye on the black-belt, but there were many obstacles ahead. Less than one percent of all students at my karate school end up getting to
In any sport, whether it’s football or softball or tennis, failure is bound to happen. Every athlete, at some point in his or her career, will deal with defeat. Although no one, especially competitors, enjoy failure, it is an essential to reaching success. I recently faced defeat on the softball field that still haunts me to this day, but the lessons I learned and the development in my character made the experience worth it.
The fact that everyone has goals and ambitions is what makes us all similar to each other, yet we differ by our motivations and willingness to sacrifice to attain those aspirations. This concept of ambition and motivation is depicted through the conflicts of the short stories “A Wall of Fire Rising” by Danticat, and “The Birth-Mark” by Hawthorne which stem from Guy and Aylmer’s impossible desires, respectively. Although Guy and Aylmer desire for unreachable ambitions at the cost of losing something important, both protagonists have different insecurities that drive them.
So, I got ready for my next match, which was against Jeff Petro from Wray, CO. As we warmed up in the same corner, I looked at him with some fear to tell you the truth. This guy was ripped, ...
CLAP, CLAP, CLAP, CLAP, echoes through my head as I walk to the middle of the mat. "At 160lbs Aidan Conner of La Junta vs. Rodney Jones of Hotchkiss." All I can think of is every bead of sweat, every drip of blood, every mile, every push up, every tear. Why? All of this: just to be victorious. All in preparation for one match, six minutes. For some these six minutes may only be a glimpse, and then again for some it may be the biggest six minutes of their life. Many get the chance to experience it more than once. Some may work harder and want it more than others, but they may never get the chance. All they get is a moral victory. Every kid, every man comes into the tournament with a goal. For some is to win, for some is to place, others are just happy to qualify. These six minutes come on a cold frigid night in February at a place called the Pepsi Center. Once a year this gathering takes place when the small and the large, the best of the best, come to compete in front thousands of people. I am at the Colorado State Wrestling Championships.
Before I could really start to write about ambition, I had to ask myself what ambition really was. What causes people to be ambitious, and what are the advantages and disadvantages of being an ambitious person? At first, I must admit it was fairly difficult to comprehend. But I found it to all come together when I related it to another kind of person or group of people – dreamers.
My life has been full of so many events. I’ve lived through many hard times combatting my anxiety and depression, while having family problems, and trouble with many other areas in my life. School was a daily problem, and a problem that couldn’t really be avoided or fixed. I really hope that the rest of my life goes in this upward climb pattern that I am in right now, although I expect to have my ups and downs, but now I at least know that I am prepared for them.
6. DON'T give up your spiritual values or religious beliefs. Just because you start learning about some mysterious Chi force or miraculous feats, don't suddenly think that you have found the answers to all of your unanswered questions. While karate can provide some very enlightening wisdom and inspiration, you should always remember why you first enrolled in the martial arts. It was probably to learn self-defense, to improve your health and fitness, or to join in with a worthwhile activity together with your child. I doubt that you wanted to join a pseudo-religious cult.
Martial arts classes and training consist of lessons and drills to improve strength, speed, cardio, footwork, and flexibility. The first martial art I ever learned was Taekwondo. Taekwondo strikes primarily include kicks, but also contain punches and chops. Learning Taekwondo increases speed, cardio, footwork and flexibility. Taekwondo is considered one of the more brutal mixed martial arts, it...