Black Belt

Me shaking my Sensei's hand after the test (I could barely walk)

As of December 12, 2015 I am an official black belt. After all these years it feels so good to be able to call myself a black belt and know that I earned it. Really I earned it, after performing eight katas, free sparring, and basics that make your muscles ache, and all that under immense pressure was far from easy. The test in total was four hours long. The pressure that we were all under was probably the worst thing. One of my friends almost passed out because she was so nervous, even though she'd done the drill hundreds of times before. And after we're all tired and hungry and ready to sleep for the rest of the year they have us do what's called a spirit test. Basically they try to make you break and see how far you can push yourself. Hardcore right? Well for ours we did five sets of one minute of push ups, sit ups, birpies, jumping jacks, and tons of other excersises  It was exhausting. But hey, now it's over and I never have to do it again.


A blackbelt in Karate to me represents the peak of my training, a checkpoint to realize that my hard work has payed off. I wanted to achieve a blackbelt for a few different reasons. For one, it’s a major accomplishment and the highest level you can reach in Karate. Also, you gain another level of respect and I feel that people and coaches take you more seriously. And lastly just because it’s pretty awesome to be a blackbelt. But the belt is more than just a piece of fabric that you tie around your waist, it’s much more. A blackbelt means that I have to set an example and I don’t get to slack off or be lazy. Also, now that I am a blackbelt I will have to make more of an effort to help other students achieve their goals and be a good role model for them to follow. 

I realize that getting a blackbelt isn’t the end of my training but only the beginning. Many people have asked me, "Well isn't Karate boring now that you have your black belt." And I say not even a little. Having the black belt doesn't mean you're a master it means that you have reached a certain level of Karate. A quote that I found explains this perfectly, it goes "From white belt to black belt you shape the tool, at black belt you start to learn how to use it." After almost seven years of training I'm still not to the best of my ability in Karate. There will always be new things to learn and perfect. Now that I have my black belt I will have new opportunities and many more roads to take than the journey I took to get to the blackbelt.