My First Medal!

My story is about my first medal in karate. I started taking karate when I was only eleven. Why would a girl decide to do such a male and tough sport? I was inspired when I was picking up my little cousins from karate and saw girls who were doing it. They were in an amazing shape. I could tell that these young women know how to defend themselves and will never let anyone offend them. I took my decision seriously and did a little research asking everyone for advice and suggestions. After that I signed up for classes to the best possible coach in my city.

In the beginning it was very interesting to learn something new because before I only did dancing. At the same time it was difficult as well. The amount of work needed to be done was overwhelming. But I already was in love with karate. Despite the hard work there were more advantages than disadvantages.

After two months of classes the coach saw a great potential in me and without explaining anything suddenly twice increased my load of work. He forced me to practice every day. And even he stood up to fight with me himself. I thought he doesn’t like me and that’s why he made me work so much. He hit me with his black belt to improve my reaction or hit me with a stick on my legs to teach me how to block the real attack. But after three months long torture he announced that the International Tournament is coming up and only one girl will be picked to present our team.

Out of all girls in my group I was the one who my coach intended to send to the International Tournament. But anyways in order to be picked for the tournament we all had to go through qualifying rounds. On one of the qualifying rounds I knocked out one of the opponents and that decided my fate. I was going to the Tournament! This was my first competition and at that point it was the most important moment for me. I felt responsible to prove my coach right about my abilities and I wanted to make my parents proud of me. I was extremely nervous and didn’t know what to expect from my new unknown opponents. At the competition I had to fight strong and experienced rivals. I won the first two without difficulties. But in the third round of competition I had to fight against very fast and well-trained girl who I just couldn’t beat. And after losing to her I fought for the third place and won. That was my first hard-earned medal in the tournament. After that competition I participated in many other tournaments and won other medals including many of the first places. Later I became the champion of Kazakhstan and Russia. I didn’t want to stop because I loved the taste of victory. Nevertheless, that first medal was the most unforgettable and important for me.

My big interests in karate taught me not only fighting but also patience, endurance and self-discipline. It taught me how to defend myself and not to be scared of difficulties not only in karate but in life. Even though people generally do not advise girls to do karate I personally believe that it made me stronger and well prepared for life. So I would strongly support this interest in girls.