My Black Belt

By Ashley

I was 3 when i started doing Tae-kwon-do. At first I thought it was just fun, and that was it. As I started progressing in the ranks, I got better and better - and more confident in myself. Eventually I was learning how to protect myself against guns and knives, that was an awesome feeling. That school was great for me, and it gave me the basis for the rest of my training, but unfortuneatly that instructor became abusive towards me, so I switched to another schoool. At that time I had a red belt.That school allowed me to keep my current rank and continue my training.

After running 1 mile, doing 100 situps and 100 pushups - the long awaited blackbelt was mine. At that time I was only 8 years old!. That was an amazing feat for me, and made me feel so good.

After training with my black for a while and achieving my 2nd degree black at around 10 years old I moved onto kickboxing. there I didn't quite start at the bottom (high-yellow), and I am now a brown belt preparing me for my high-brown belt. I am now 15years old, and in high-school. there have been times when I was glad that I knew how to get out of potentially dangerous situatiions!.

Good job to all of us girls that are sticking with the martial arts and showing the men that they aren't alone in the sport!