At a recent Black Belt camp, we candidates were instructed to talk with senior karate-ka and discover something we didn’t know about them. I was interested in what these people, who have been training for 15 or 20 years, or more, would do differently if they had their karate training to do over again, to begin again as white belt. While the four responses were different, each karate-ka feels they would be much further along now had they understood a problem from the beginning.
As for myself I’m sure I would have progressed more quickly had I not dwelled on my shortcomings as a not-particularly-good athlete. It took me several years of training to realize we all do what our abilities allow. One of the most inspiring karate-ka with which I’ve had the pleasure to train was a mom of a child in my previous school. She simply didn’t have much athletic ability. No one could deny she worked as hard and enjoyed what she was learning as much as the rest of us. We all were drawn to her, wanted to encourage her to keep pushing. Her karate training was changing her life, and looking back, my life as well.
I sure wish I could remember her name.