Naresh G
Black Belt 1st Dan
“One who achieves a black belt in karate is a white belt that never gave up", one who
practices karate needs to have a lot of patience and should be determined to do hard work as it
is not so easy to achieve a black belt. My journey to achieving my Black belt first started in the
year 2017 when I was 9 and I noticed a banner saying "Horizon Champions Club" where it was
also mentioned that it was a karate and fitness institute. My holidays were coming close and I
had nothing to do. I was also a big fan of martial arts and wanted to learn karate as I always
thought that self defense was an important aspect of life. I pleaded to my mom for about 4 days
until she finally gave in and called the number on the banner and enquired about the classes
and timings. The next day we went to the institute for a demo class where I unexpectedly met
some of my schoolmates and made friends very quickly in the class. My Sensei, Mr.Tharun
guided me and trained me to get better at every single stage of my journey and I've always
looked up to him as a role model.
Although his training was hard, I knew that he was doing it for the sake of preparing me
mentally and physically to pass every single obstacle that I had to overcome in my journey. My
first belt exam was held on the 2nd of September, 2018 where I was introduced to lots of
techniques and stances, basic blocks and punches and successfully passed the belt exam and
was promoted to the yellow belt. As the belt ranks got higher, training got harder; but I never
gave up as I was determined to work harder. Always remember, Discipline and Respect are one
of the major things that you will have to follow in order to achieve any belt in karate. I was first
introduced to 2 tournaments in the year 2018 where I faced losses in both the tournaments.
After this I only got to know that the training I had taken for these many days was not enough
and that I had to work harder. I worked harder and harder and soon enough my second belt
grading exam came up. Over there I was recognized for my performance and was awarded a
triple promotion from yellow belt to a green senior belt. Although I was happy with my
performance, I wanted to get better and stronger. I had not participated in any tournament when
I was in the green belt as I knew that I had to get stronger.
After all this, my third belt grading exam came up and I had achieved my blue senior belt.
Things start to take a turn when you enter the blue belt, You become one of the seniors of the
class and have to carry lots of responsibilities on your back. I participated in my 3rd tournament
in the year and bagged the gold medal under the individual kata category. I've always had a
certain spark when it comes to kata and I also decided to become better at it. Then I worked
harder and participated in an open state level karate championship in the same year and came
first in kata and third in kumite. I participated in 2 other tournaments one of which was a district
level tournament and the other being an all India level tournament. I achieved silver medals in
both but also achieved a half gram gold coin in the all India level tournament.
After an interesting year with my blue belt came my brown belt grading exam where I was
promoted to brown junior belt. After I achieved this belt in 2020, the coronavirus had spread
widely across all of India and our institution had to be shut down temporarily for safety
precautions. It was boring to sit at home and just attend classes online as the only thing I loved
doing was going to class and practicing karate. By the end of 2020 I was overweight and
classes slowly started to resume. In that time, my trainers Mr.Basavaraj and Rahul senpai
guided me to get better after the long break. By 2021 I had participated in my first state level
karate tournament where I bagged the gold medal under the kata category and had also
participated in an all India level championship where I had won another gold medal in kata.
After all this, came another belt exam where I achieved my brown super senior belt and
knew that I was only one step closer to achieving my dream. I trained six years to achieve my
goal worked harder and finally 11 months after I achieved my brown belt my black belt grading
exam came up. I knew that I had trained all my life to achieve this and that I had to give my 100
percent as it was now or never. Finally I achieved my black belt after a long journey of six years.
A lot of people have taught me many things during these six years but, the person who really
changed my life was my Sensei, Mr.Tharun. I would like to thank him as he has guided me in
every single aspect of my journey and helped me overcome every single obstacle in order to
achieve my dreams. Once again, One can only achieve a black belt with Discipline and Respect
and a strong mindset to Never Give Up.
Thank you.