By Dillon Atchison

If I had to describe my journey to becoming a black belt as an adult I would describe it as learning and discovering more about myself as each day passed.

I remember what brought me in to Reveal Martial Arts school one day. It was a scene from Ip Man. In this scene Master Ip stands before ten Japanese karate black belts and he beautifully beats them all up by himself for what they did to his friend.

Watching that powerful scene is what drove me to begin my journey. At first, being a white belt among highly skilled black belts was intimidating. Though, I never let that feeling of intimidation hold me back from learning and studying from my opinion the best black belts ever. I remember when I was promoted to orange belt at that time that was when I could start sparring like the other students in class.

At first, I was terrible at sparring I was having a hard time staying with in control. At the same time, I was out of shape I would get very winded during rounds which would cause my opponents to tee off on me and the only thing I could do was defend myself the best I could. Eventually, I got tired of getting my butt beat and I decided to do something about my weight.

I started to eat right, workout as best as I could which eventually started to improve my performance in the martial arts. I felt lighter on my feet, I wasn’t having a difficult time keeping my hands up, and my kicks and combinations felt more effective.

If you were to ask me what was the best single most important lesson I have learned during this three-year journey, I would most likely say never get a “big head” or underestimate your opponent. When I learned this great lesson, I believe, I had just become a brown senior belt.

One day, during sparring I was going up against Mr. Brian Garcia. I was pushing the attack against him and he was uncharacteristically moving backwards. I noticed this quickly thinking I had him on the complete defensive, I couldn’t have been more wrong. While in close with him throwing punches on him he leaned back real fast and hit me with a beautiful front twist kick with his right leg to my blind spot on the right side of my helmet; mind you he was at close range when he hit me.

That kick sent me crashing to the ground. I remember looking up at him and he had this smile on his face. Afterwards, he told me that was one of the best rounds he has ever had against me. At the same time, he told me to never stay in the pocket too long thinking that you have your opponent trapped or cornered.

At first, I was embarrassed and I felt bad for getting over confident against him. After hearing his words of guidance and encouragement I gained whole new understanding for what it means to remain humble always. Anything can happen, especially during sparring or in life.

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