Black Belt Essay --- Josh Ragen

[Joshua Ragen]

What I have learned from practicing Tae Kwon Do and will be able to bring into my life and continue to use is perseverance, leadership and respect. I have been taking Martial arts for over nine years, and have kept going despite many challenges. At multiple points, I have had to change schools, and restart at the beginning. From this, I have persevered and continued practicing, and am now prepared to test for my Black Belt. I have also learned about how to teach others, and better communicate with them. This will help me this summer when I am working as a camp counselor, because I will be working with many younger kids to teach them. Respect is also important to learn, because it will help me form better relationships with other people. From all of this, I hope that what I have learned in Tae Kwon Do will help me to be a better person.

When I reach black belt, my goals for what I will do are to continue to practice and train in Tae Kwon Do when I can. This will be a challenge for me because I will be working over the summer, and then be away for much of the next year, but I still hope to continue practicing when I get the chance. This means that I will try to attend classes at home when it is possible, as well as looking for new places where I can learn and teach. From doing this, I will hopefully be able to successfully balance my Tae Kwon Do with my other responsibilities.

Continuing with Tae Kwon Do is important to me because I have worked for a very long time to reach Black Belt. I enjoy practicing martial arts because it gives me a chance to focus on improving, and getting better. Because of this, I think that it is important for me to continue practicing and improving at Tae Kwon Do.