Daniel Eidelstein

What does a black belt mean to me? A black belt isn’t just a rank. A black belt is a step up in improving your attitude, school work, and your life. I have achieved many things since I have earned my red belt in AmeriKick SI. Wearing a red belt has helped me to improve everything in my life. My sensei’s have taught me that a belt isn’t just a rank, it is a motivation to keep pushing in life no matter what kind of challenge awaits ahead.

I have achieved many things as a red belt. The most important change in my life is that my school grades improved dramatically since I got my new belt. My average in mathematics is now 98%, computers 100% and other classes are all above 93%. Even my behavior jumped to E (Excellent) from S (Satisfactory). My attitude improved in my conversations with adults, but there is always room for improvement.

As a red belt student I achieved first place on AmeriKick Internationals last year. It was my biggest accomplishment, coming home with the biggest trophy and pride for my school. My forms, weapons, sparring, flexibility, and mainly my attention span have all improved. I was able to help my sensei’s during classes which gave me confidence that someday I will be one of the sensei’s. I hope I will be able to teach other children in our school and help them improve the same way I did. Even my other extracurricular activities got influenced. I am able to use a lot of my karate moves in my Latin Dancing classes. This is what my red belt has helped me achieve in just a short year.

What does a Black Belt mean to me? To get a Black Belt would mean a great honor that shows how hard I have worked to achieve this reward. In the past few months I took extra classes and extra time to practice and improve my skills. I had early morning sparring practices, extra classes on weekends, helping during lessons with younger students, spending all of my free time from school in AmeriKick. All these efforts add up to every day’s hard work to help me improve enough to be a better person. Wearing a Black Belt will make me an example to the younger students showing that nothing is impossible if you work hard enough on your goal.

My greatest dream is to be a teacher in AmeriKick karate school. This means to be an example and the leader for other people. That’s the greatest responsibility which I can achieve. The first step to this goal is getting my Junior Black Belt. It’s just a small step to my main goal – Bl