By SEMPAI JASON JEGANATHAN

I can never underestimate the importance of Tai Shi Kai Karate has made to my life. It has become an integral part of my life ever since I started training nine years ago. Being 11 years old when I first joined, I recall one of the main reasons why I joined karate was just to have a bit of fun and to keep myself from mischief. Little did I know or predict the amount of influence it would later have in my life. Not only has karate taught me about self defence it has taught and assisted me in essential elements of life such as self confidence, self discipline and fitness as well as creating life long friends.

Tai Shi Kai Karate has given me the knowledge of self defense which is one of the major reasons why I joined the club in the first place. Knowing how to defend oneself in a potentially dangerous situation, I believe to be an asset in today’s world where violence is just spiraling out of control. The common misconception of karate is that it’s a sport and brute force is required. Tai Shi Kai Karate has taught me that karate is not a sport but an art, an art of self defence, and brute force is not required on order to perform this art. This is quite important to me because as a relatively short person, there is no way I would be able to physically overpower a bigger person just on brute strength alone. Wado-Ryu has taught me with the correct application of certain moves and techniques, I can match the ‘bigger’ person and successfully defend myself. Tai Shi Kai has also taught me the best defence possible – that is, not to be there in the first place to be subjected to an attack. I have also learnt numerous techniques against all kinds of weapons such as cane, knives and baseball bats.

Through training, I believe karate has changed my mentality towards life. I used to get hung up over small things that would in essence be just a small part of training and life. For example, not being to apply a difficult technique correctly or doing poorly in a school exam. Before karate, ‘difficulty’ was a term I usually tried to avoid. If I couldn’t do something I would take the easy way out and quit. But what’s the point of quitting if you don’t try or persist to do something? Karate has helped me to believe that anything can be achieved if you put your mind to it. As the motto goes ‘Never Give In.’ Karate has helped me create a ‘if you don’t succeed at first, dust yourself off and try again’ and keep trying until you succeed mentality. A key example of this is in my training was at the start of the year when I just could not execute a proper mawashigeri kick. I just could not get my hips around to do the kick properly. I did cop a lot of criticism from my instructors for not being able to do it but my training taught me if I kept practicing and trying harder I can achieve it, and 3 months later I managed to make a significant improvement. This also has flowed on to other aspects of my life such as university and work where you will have ‘off’ days where you feel everything is against you but you just have to keep persisting and eventually all the hard work will pay off.

It is fair to say that fitness was not one of my strengths. Tai Shi Karate has no doubt helped me to improve my fitness. By constantly training 2-3 times a week plus running the hill every Saturday, I have has certainly increased my fitness levels as well as helping me to maintain my weight. I remember first joining the senior class back in 2000, where the amount of training intensified and got harder and I was ‘absolutely spent’ at about 30 minutes into the class. This was clearly due to the lack of fitness I possessed. As the classes wore on, more sweat dropped, but I found myself fitter and less tired and I was actually capable of training the full class. Currently as I approach my black belt grading, I have reason to believe my fitness has gone up a notch. The constant running of the hill, with Sempai Scott behind my tail constantly, has no doubt enabled me to create fitness available to succeed at my upcoming black belt grading and this has also shown in my training as there is less huff and puff then there usually was. There is no doubt that Tai Shi Karate has improved my fitness and its fair to say without training I probably would have never achieve the fitness level I have now.

I believe I have created life long friends through my training at Tai Shi Kai. This has been possible due to the kind, caring and friendly nature of everyone at Tai Shi Kai. It feels like a second family where everyone seems to be happy bunch that loves to help and urge others on. For example, you can go speak to anyone if you’re having problems with karate techniques or just in life in general. In my opinion, the comrade shown in the club is second to none. I just love walking into training, knowing that I’m sweating, bleeding and sore alongside people who are helping one another improve. Karate training can also feel like a getaway, somewhere I can go, something I can do, to get away from the busy life of either university or work and just relax and have a good workout, in a nice and caring environment.

As we can see the importance of karate has been enormous to my life. It has helped me to grow and define me in the key elements of life such as self defense, self confidence, discipline and fitness. As I approach my black belt grading, it is clear now, that is has become an essential element to my life.

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