Wambua's Martial Arts Academy

Black belt is the highest of all belts in our system. Of course there are different degree's that go on and on, but your belt doesn't change to a different color. From now on my belt will be black, Representing how long and how hard I have worked to get to my second degree. Now that my color does not change I don't have to worry about my next color or my next stripe. This is when the real training begins. My classmates that went through this with me last time are all gone, except for one and he is a judge this year sitting right over there. All of those people that I had trained with a long time ago are all gone. Some of them quitting when they got their black belts and some... even before. I feel sorry for those that couldn't find time to continue, but I also feel sorry for those that thought they had reached their goal when they got their black belt. They had not realized that the next class they went to would start a whole new journey, all over again.

Black belt is not the highest goal in Tae Kwon Do. If you ask me what the highest goal is in TKD I wouldn't know what to tell you, because I haven't reached it yet. But if you asked me what my guess was I would tell you that it is to never give up. if you fall down, get up. if you can't figure out a form, try again. If there is that one person in a tournament that you can never defeat, don't forget there is always another chance. That is one of the things TKD training has helped me at. Even in the hardest situations it has helped me pus through.

What black belt means to me is that I have understood if you seek a challenge and you finally get there, there are always higher and greater challenges. Black belt also proves to me if you really want something or somewhere and try you're hardest to get where you will always reach the destination.

Sometimes it takes more than one person to get where you want to be though. I would like to thank my parents for helping me get to where I am now. They have always given me the extra push or help that I need to achieve everything that I have. Along with my parents I would like to thank my Grandmother for always keeping me in a good mood, and helping with the rides that my little brother and I need to get to class. There is one more person I would love to thank, Mr Wambua. Without his help and his teachings I would have never even done Tae Kwon Do. He has helped me achieve all of my belts from white to black. He has taught me all of the forms and techniques that I know, and he has been a very good friend through all of these years that I have known him. And i also want to thank the rest of the judges for being here for all of those tests that we had to go through to get here right now.