Tonight was a special night to be back at the home dojo. My good friend Liz had just gotten her black belt a few days ago, and tonight was the ceremony for awarding her belt. Liz is the only female black belt that I can recall ever from the Pekin dojo, and most certainly the youngest female if any has preceeded her.
I don’t recall what caused this phenominon but Liz and I struck up a friendship several years back, likely during the halcyon days of excessive amounts of Sochin. For being very young, Liz has always possessed a fire in her belly about karate and a staunch and often befuddling sense of fury about her karate trained that endears her to many in the Pekin dojo. She endured injuries that may have forced others to flee and never come back to the dojo, a testament to her strong will and fighting spirit. Speaking of fighting spirit, Liz is just about the only youth student I have taught that not only listened but proceeded to out-do herself when I instructed her to hit me harder and you can’t help but love that.
I am happy that I have been able to help her train over the years, and I am insanely proud of her for this accomplishment. I know that it will talk no extra prodding to keep her firmly on the path to more success with her karate training.
Great job, Liz. You really earned this rank and you have made us all proud! Keep up the good work!
If you haven’t done so already, head on over to her Facebook profile and congratulate her.
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