My Journey with Karate

My Transformation In Karate

As I  child growing up in the vibrant, although a bit noisy city of Hyderabad, Karate to me simply meant the thing done by men in funny white robes who broke bricks with the edge of their palms. I used to think that these men had some sort of superpower since they could chop bricks like knives chop carrots. As a 1st Dan blackbelt now, I can break bricks but don't really consider it a superpower. 

                    

I first got into Karate in 2016 for no other reason than "It looks cool". The academy I joined was of Shotokan Karate, and my sensei was a 6th Dan Blackbelt who started training students since 1990 (and still continues today!). I still remember the first day, when I was simply confused and tired just after the warmup. Despite taking a beating on the first day itself, which left my entire body aching, I still continued because a small portion of my fascination with the sport had been ignited. Needless to say, that portion has only gotten (and still is getting) larger over the years.

A year after joining, when I was still a newbie orange belt (a rough translation will be 3rd level or 3rd grade) I was invited to a state-level tournament. My excitement was off the roof. Having never attended a tournament of any kind before, I was simply ecstatic. I would also like to add, that my ecstasy did decrease by a considerable lot because during the entirety of the tournament, my fight was at the end, and thus I had to sit around waiting for the entire day of the tournament. At last, my fight came and all the lost ecstasy came back with added interest. The outcome of the tournament was that I won a gold medal. My opponent was also a newbie and was somewhat nervous, and I took good advantage of that. This was my first tournament (I have competed in many more and still do so) and thus my most memorable. 

Well, this was my journey till my orange belt. If you'd like to read more of my adventures in this sport of Karate, and more about karate, do continue reading my Blog. Have a nice day!