My Journey Becoming A
MARTIAL ARTIST
an essay
by
Taylor Meghan Lew
2
1
5 0 0 WO R D E S S A Y
What does
karate
mean to me?
My name is Taylor Lew. My school is One Martial Arts. My
instructor is Professor Brannon Beliso. I’m eleven years
old and in the sixth grade attending Presidio Middle
School. I first started taking Karate classes in 2004. In the
beginning, I remember I didn’t quite like it. After I tested
for my solid yellow belt, I started to enjoy it more.
The person that I looked up to most was Tansy Mak
because she was both a young student getting ready for
college and the fact that she was a girl trying to get her
black belt. I also wanted to be different than my other
girlfriends by taking karate instead of gymnastics. I also
wanted to prove to myself that girls can be just as good or
Taylor
age 7
Derek
age 5
even better than the boys in karate.
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5 0 0 WO R D E S S AY
Karate means a lot of things to me. Each one of Professor
Beliso’s “Student Creed” is part of my definition of Karate.
I also went on-line to read more on Ed Parker’s student
creed. I’m doing everything I can in practicing the entire
student creed everyday. I really practice student creed #6:
“I will use what I learn in class
to help others and myself.
”
A good example is every Saturday I have been teaching
most of the lower belts and I enjoy helping others and
myself. Also, this summer, I’ll be volunteering my time at
Taylor
{5th Annual Inter-School
Karate Tournament}
the swimming pool at St. Ignatius teaching younger kids
how to swim. How cool is that?
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5 0 0 WO R D E S S AY
“I will be humble, patient and kind.”
Student Creed # 4 is important to me. It teaches me not to
be a “showoff” but “to be humble, patient and kind”. For
example, after I receive my next belt, I will not brag to other
students. Also, when I finish my race in a swim meet, I
would congratulate the other swimmers in the next lane
even if they beat me. My parents keep telling my brother
and I to be patient in anything we do. An example of being
patient is when I’m waiting in the lunch line at school. In
this example, being patient is respecting everyone else in
TJ & TAYL
TAYLOR
OR
{200
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Appreci
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line. My parents remind me that I should be kinder to my
brother even though he’s very annoying at times.
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5 0 0 WO R D E S S AY
FOCUS
Karate to me is not just self defense and a way to protect
yourself, but it teaches me to “focus”. Focus has helped me
in my every day life. For example, I must focus everyday in
school by listening to my teachers or else I will do poorly in
school. Focus helps me concentrate better.
Another meaning of Karate to me is being “mindful” to others.
One way of being mindful of others is to be aware and alert
wherever I am. For example, I would not talk during a movie
DEMO TEAM
{5th Annual Appreciation
& Demo Picnic}
especially in a movie theatre. It would not be fair if others
cannot hear the movie because I was too noisy.
5
5 0 0 WO R D E S S AY
TEAMWORK
Teamwork is a very important part of Karate. When I
watched “Enter the Dragon” with my Dad, Bruce Lee said
“the word “I” does not exist”. When we had our 8th
Annual Karate Tournament at One Martial Arts, I had to
work with Derek and Cameron as a team. One of the
challenges we had to do was to stay together at the same
pace when performing our team kata.
Karate will always be part of my everyday life. Karate is a
balance of both physical and non-physical. The physical
part is self-defense and the non-physical part is all in the
Derek, Taylor & Derek: TEAM X
{2009 Inter-School Karate Tournament}
mind. Having a balance in anything I do is like Karate.
Karate teaches me to be one complete person.
6
5 0 0 WO R D E S S AY
white belt {honorably awarded 2004}
ninja yellow belt {honorably awarded 8.7.04}
yellow belt {honorably awarded 12.4.04}
orange belt {honorably awarded 2.19.05}
orange-purple belt {honorably awarded 6.18.05}
purple belt {honorably awarded 8.20.05}
green belt {honorably awarded 1.28.06}
green-blue belt {honorably awarded 4.29.06}
blue belt {honorably awarded 8.26.06}
brown belt {honorably awarded 12.23.06}
brown-black belt {honorably awarded 6.29.07}
black belt {honorably awarded 5.16.09}