Karate Wasn't What I Expected

Be honest, you probably think that karate is all about ninjas and breaking boards and beating people up. But in reality it’s not, Karate is so much more. To me Karate is about respect, hard work, and dedication. My name is Tiana, I’ve been training in Karate for the past six years, in those years I have won the Junior Olympics 3 times, USA open 2 times and Nationals 4 times. I have traveled all over the United States competing and met some amazing people along the way. 

I first started Karate when I was around 9, a friend of my sister was really into Karate and he was always trying to get my sister and I to come. At first I was like most people who think Karate is only in movies where they do backflips and beat up bad guys with one hand. My sister was all for it, “Now I’ll finally be able to beat up Tiana” was what she said. I couldn't have my little sister beating up on me so of course I had to go too. 

We went into the dojo which was small with two training rooms, the walls covered in mirrors. The first thought that ran through my head as I looked at all the people in weird white outfits was “Please don’t kill me.” A man with white hair and wisdom in his eyes came in and told the class to line up. He yelled something in Japanese and all the students bowed, I bowed too but I had no idea why. He yelled something again in Japanese and we all bowed again. Already I was feeling nervous, then he told us all to get a partner so we could practice techniques. I turned to my sister but she was with her friend I turned back around to see a tall muscular girl who was at least 3 years older standing in from of me. My heart was beating rapidly ‘Oh great now I’m really dead’ I closed my eyes and flexed up my body waiting to be hit. All the sudden I felt a light tap hit my stomach. That’s it? This girl who looked like she could knock me out with one hit simply tapped me. I was really surprised on how much control everyone had, no one got hurt no one died. After the class was over the man with wisdom in his eyes came over to me and asked me what I thought about the class. I shrugged, it was defiantly different from any other sport I’ve played. “Keep trying” he told me, “I can see you're a fighter.” From that moment on I knew that this was what I wanted to do. 

This is me at one of my very first tournaments.

 "PARK CITY KARATE BOOSTER CLUB." <i>Live PC Give PC</i>. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Oct. 2015.