“I started Taekwondo when I was 11 years old. I’m 15 now, so it’s been four years. I was really interested in martial arts and just combat in general, so my mom got me enrolled in a dojo close to our house. I originally wanted to do jujitsu, but when I saw Taekwondo and the kicks they do, I was really interested, so that’s why I started. I’m currently a red stripe at Choi’s Martial Arts and am one belt away from being a black belt.

I really like Taekwondo. I’m learning how to fight, and the environment inside the dojo itself is really fun. One thing that we do a lot is rolling and we also practice falling. I get dropped from varying heights, and I have to land right—it’s really fun. My favorite part is definitely learning different forms and blocking techniques. My favorite technique is the basic knife hand block.

We learn a lot in general. Our teacher likes to talk a lot, and not just about Taekwondo itself. He teaches us how to use those techniques in real life. We learn perseverance, respect, and patience. We also learn a lot of things about concentration, focus, and balance. Learning these skills have increased my focus in studying and it helps me keep my patience longer.

One of my favorite and funny moments is when I almost got back kicked in the face and my nose nearly snapped clean in half. It was memorable because everyone just panicked around me, but I was fine so it was really funny.When it comes to challenges, one major part of Taekwondo that’s really difficult for me is flexibility because you have to be able to do real splits. If you’ve ever seen a sidekick, a lot of them are just straight up, so you need to be able to do both middle splits and front splits. And I’m not very good at those. But to get better it’s just practice over and over and over. Practice does make perfect. I can give you an example about my back spinning kick. At first, I was really, really bad at that kick, but I kept doing it and now I can break a board with it. 

I currently have classes around three to four times a week, and they’re for about 40 minutes. Including the commute, it’s about one hour to one hour and 20 minutes each, so I have to really be on top of my homework and classwork in general if I want to go to class.

I also compete in inner organization contests, as Choi’s Martial Arts has two locations, one in Union City and one in Fremont. I haven’t gone to any Taekwondo tournaments, but if I were to compete, I would do form and board breaking because those are the two I’m best at. I think I’d probably win at least a silver medal.

Taekwondo, to me, is a really cool thing, and it helps me a lot throughout my life. It’s an amazing feeling to know what you can do with just your body alone.”