I am Justin Lai, and I have been taking Kungfu for about 10 years. This year I am 15 years old and am in 9th grade. I attend Leland High School.
Before Taking Kungfu, I was shy and soft-spoken around people I didn’t know. Through practicing Kungfu and performing in front of others, I grew more extroverted and outgoing.
I started practicing Kung-Fu at this studio when I was around 5 years old. In that amount of time, my age has tripled and grown, and so too have my life experiences. Before taking Kung-Fu, I was detached from my peers, and shy. Through Kung-Fu class, I became acquaintances, if not friends with the people I took classes with. Through practicing and working hard with one another, I grew to respect them as well as all the other people around me. By practicing with others and becoming friends with those in class, I learned how to befrie Bnd and open up to others outside of just Kung-Fu class. I learned to respect them, and treat others more kindly and thoughtfully. Furthermore, by learning to respect Shifu, I learned discipline, and the importance of respecting not only your peers, but those that are older, such as your teachers or your parents. In class, when Shifu put me in charge of teaching other students, I realized that he was also teaching me how to lead and teach other people. By teaching those around me Kung-Fu, I learned leadership skills, and how to work and cooperate with others. Finally, I most importantly learned the importance of hard work. When I was around brown belt, my brother was thinking about giving up. Instead, however, he chose not to, and instead worked harder then ever before, practicing outside of class and training his body to become stronger. I could see the fruits of his labor during a trip to China organized by Shifu, where I saw how he was filled with strength and vigor. It was his hard work that encouraged to join the Kung-Fu team class, and made me work harder than ever before. Kung-Fu class taught me to cooperate and respect those around me, to be confident and assertive, and the importance of working hard.
How did Kungfu benefit in your overall life?
Before taking Kungfu, I was shy and soft-spoken around people I didn’t know. After taking Kungfu, and through practicing with people and performing in front of others, I grew more extroverted and outgoing. Furthermore, Kungfu taught me discipline and to respect the people around me. I learned that by working hard, I could succeed at whatever I wanted to do.
Thoughts on your own performance?
I did well, but with more practice, I could have done better. Because of my low endurance, I wasn’t able to perform the best I could.
Explain how you were feeling before, during and after the test.
Before the test I was nervous, but also confident and excited. I was worried, but I was confident in my skill and my spirit. During the test I was tired and exhausted and I knew I could have done better. After taking the test, I am proud of myself and the other testers for finishing and completing it.
