Hi! I’m John, and I’m a junior at Bellarmine. I’ve been participating in Kung Fu for over a decade now, and I’ve enjoyed it thoroughly.
I think the biggest thing Kung Fu has taught me is patience. Throughout these past 10-11 years, I have seen so many of my friends advance to black-belt before me, and every time this happened, I felt more and more rushed. But, gradually I’ve realized that it doesn’t matter how fast you gain success but the things you learn on your path toward it.
Hey everyone! My name is John, and I’ve been participating in Chinese Kung Fu for almost a decade now. To say these past 10 years have been a long journey would be an understatement. I’ve met countless people, learned countless forms, and suffered from countless injuries. For example, I had to take a 1.5 year break from a knee injury, and another 1 year break from a fractured ankle and that’s what I wanted to talk about today. I’ve seen pretty much all of my friends get their black belts before me, even though I’ve been doing this for an extremely long time, and it feels really discouraging. Because when you’ve been working with the same people, with people way younger than you for a long time, and then you see them progress faster than you, it’s really discouraging. I felt discouraged to continue coming because it seems like another injury will just cause another 1 year break, and prevent me from reaching black belt, but what I’ve realized is that you really do need to be patient when it comes to these things. Although cliché, it’s really true that it’s not about the destination, it’s about the journey there, and I can say with complete conviction that these past 10 years have been a journey I do not regret taking. So, today, I’m finally getting my black belt, I’m extremely excited, and (if there’s an audience) I hope you enjoy!
How did Kungfu benefit in your overall life?
I think the biggest thing Kungfu has taught me is patience. Throughout these past 10-11 years, I’ve seen so many of my friends advance to black-belt before me, and every time an additional classmate reached black-belt before me, I felt more and more rushed. But gradually, I’ve realized that it doesn’t matter how fast you gain success but the things you lean on your path toward it. And I am very proud of my journey in Kungfu.
Thoughts on your own performance?
I think I performed up to my potential. I did fine on all my forms, although near the end of my double broadsword, one of my swords broke. Overall I’m proud of my performance!
Explain how you were feeling before, during and after the test.
Before the test today, I was a bit anxious but mostly excited. 10 years of training has led to this moment, so I was ready. During the test, Masks were a huge hinderance to my performance as my endurance has always been my weakness. However, after the test, I feel satisfied as I’ve finally reached my goal after 10 years.