My Journey to Black Belt

Trey Sheldon 07/01/07

I started out as a white belt in February 2005, when I was 5, and now I’m a black belt as of May 10, 2007. Let me tell you it’s really hard but it’s worth it.

Taekwondo is really fun, especially when I get to teach other kids stuff I’ve learned. I’m in a program called Leadership, so I’m a Junior Instructor Trainee. When I get to teach other kids their forms it gives me more hours towards earning my next Instructor Level Stripe. It’s really fun when I get to teach kids stuff that I just learned myself two years ago.

In Leadership I also get to conduct testing. I was nervous my first time, but I got used to it. It’s kind of hard the first time you do it, but the second time you do it, you’re really good at it.

When I started Taekwondo, it was kind of hard because I didn’t know what I was doing. But watching other kids and listening to my instructors helped me get better. And now, here I am, a Black Belt.

To become a black belt, I had to work hard, do my best, and keep trying. That’s called persistence or perseverance. That’s another thing we learn in TKD, or Taekwondo...life skills, like loyalty, promises, honesty, drive. All these things help you be a better person.

When I teach the Tiny Tigers, they have a creed they say at every class. They say, “To be a good person takes knowledge in my mind, honesty in my heart, strength in my body to make good friends.” And in the Junior class, which is my class, we say, “I shall practice in the Spirit of Taekwondo; with courtesy for fellow students, loyalty for my instructors and respect for my juniors and seniors, Sir!” At the end of the class, we say, “I shall live with perseverance in the Spirit of Taekwondo; having honor for others, integrity in myself and self control in my actions, Sir!”

I have been to 9 tournaments and usually take first, second or third place. I like competing with others, but it doesn’t matter when you win or lose, it’s about how much fun you have.

To get my Black Belt I had to learn 9 forms: white, orange, yellow, camouflage, green, purple, blue, brown and red. I also had to learn self-defense techniques for each belt, pressure points, basic 6 boxing drills, Olympic sparring drills, and the nine angles of attack, board-breaking and how to use the Nunchuks and Bahng Mahng Ee (short stick).

It took me 27 months but I made it finally. I was so excited when I got my black belt. I’m not done now; I’m working toward my ninth degree. It’ll be about 29 years. Just kidding. Whatever, it takes a long time.

I would like someone to read my story and want to take karate. It’s for anyone 3 and up. Even adults.

Trey Sheldon

Trey Sheldon, my grandson is an eight year old black belt in karate. His accomplishments to this point are quite impressive as you can see the photo above. We are all very proud of him. In addition to his progress in karate, Trey is an excellent student in school. He wrote the above article himself. I invited Trey to give us a look into a sport we usually do not cover here. His black belt status qualifies him to provide such a look. He is very articulate and we may have him contribute more articles as he progresses in his training. I think you will agree that he is a very good writer and we may feature more “Let me tell you about…” stories in the future. Trey is also quite the Little League baseball player. I think it will be nice to get a perspective of sports through a young man’s eyes. We look forward to hearing from Trey in the future.

It was very impressive to watch Trey test for and earn his black. Click here to watch a video of that testing.