Last Saturday, three young men tested for their 1st degree Black Belt.
Caleb 17, Efren 17, Neil 26. These three students showed the greatest perseverance in their Black Belt test!
First off, we as a nation are still concerned with the corona virus. Our school reopened on May 18th. I told all of them in July that they would all be eligible to test if they passed the fitness test. Our fitness test comprises of a 2 mile run, 1 minute of push ups, sit ups, squats, burpees, and planks. Then 3 weeks later, they would need to beat the 2 mile time and beat whatever number they had on the exercises for one minute. The first test was a little rough. None of them had run beforehand like they were warned. Three weeks later came very quickly. I changed the rules on their run. I told them I was following them but they had a 2 minute head start. If I caught them, they would have to run it again that day. I missed them by 50 yards. Then right after we did the rest of the exercises, everyone beat their old record. I was so proud of them!
September 26th came and they were ready for the BIG test. Needless to say, all of them had a challenge during their test. One lost a toe nail, fighting four people on one. But returned and finished his 15th round of sparring. Another one almost passed out during self defense, recovered and pushed through. And the last one almost broke his hand punching me in the head. :))) He never quit. That is PERSEVERANCE. All three have recovered and are doing well!
A Black Belt test is more of a life lesson then just martial arts. Life kicks us when we are down, but when we know how to persevere, we can accomplish anything. I will leave you with my favorite creed:
We are a black belt school! We are motivated! We are dedicated! We are on a quest to be our best! Winners never quit! Quitters never win! I choose to be a winner!
