Heather Watts
I started taking karate when I was 14. It was something my father did in Korea during the Vietnam War and I grew up watching all the movies. That's where my interest came from.
I loved it. I set goals for myself and it boosted my self confidence. For someone who tried all kinds of sports in school, this was definitely the one I liked. But I came to find out it's not a sport, it's an application to my life.
I steadily went through the belts and when I was a blue belt I was asked to help out with the Karate Kids class. That put my training to a whole new level. It's amazing how much you learn when you're the one instructing. Instead of three classes a week, I was going to all of them. If I wasn't teaching, I was taking class six days a week. More often then not, there was a tournament to go to on the weekend.
In May of 1996, I earned my black belt through a three day long test under Sensei Snyder and Di Sensei Odo. It was then that I realized everything I learned was at beginner level.
Unfortunately, I didn't have a lot of time to train as a black belt because three months later I went to naval boot camp. That's a whole other story. Nine years later I came back and started training again. It feels really good to be back or for all you karate guys “GREAT!”
OSU!!
TRAIN HARD, NEVER GIVE UP