by Amber Goforth

Created on: December 13, 2007

Why I Chose Martial Arts And What Training Has Done For Me: A Series

Part 1: How I became a Martial Artist

When I was in middle school, I began to see posters on the halls at school that advertised Taekwondo lessons and I was always intrigued. However, as an "A" student active in sports and other extracurricular activities, I knew my mother would never let me join, so I didn't even ask. It wasn't until years later, when I was a sophomore in high school, that my little brother decided to take Taekwondo at the small dojo in my town. Since I lived with my mother at the time and he lived with my father down the road, I did not get to watch him take class until about 4-6 months after he started.

What I didn't know was that the instructor teaching class that Saturday morning did not see anyone as a spectator. I had not been there more than five minutes before he had me out on the floor in my street clothes, working out with the class. I was one of the oldest students there, but it was so much fun I didn't care. When I got home, I asked my mother if I could join and she immediately told me no. I didn't press the issue, but soon I began to go to the Taekwondo school with my brother after school where I would watch him train after school. The instructor who was there during my first class was not the main instructor, but a guest that had come down for the weekend. The owner was a 60 year old woman who had recently received her black belt and wanted to open a small club in my hometown.

Most of the time, the instructors would ask me if I wanted to join, and I quickly learned the material for a white belt in a couple of months. My father and stepmother began to notice my interest, and so they offered to pay to have me join as well. When I told my mother I wanted to do it, she absolutely forbid me to take classes, saying they would never get me anywhere and I needed to focus on school and other activities I was good at. I didn't want to disrespect my mother, but something told me that this was something I needed to do, so I told my father I wanted to join. I never knew how much it would change my life.

My brother quit a couple months later, but I continued to train, and by the time I was a senior, I earned my black belt. I began to notice as I increased in rank, that my instructor could no longer find things to critique me on, and so I began to see her instructor, the guest instructor who had taught my first class, and he became my current instructor. I still trained with my first instructor until I left for college, but I would go to the new instructor twice a week to gain new knowledge and get a harder workout.

To be continued in
Part 2: What I Learned on My Journey to Black Belt

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