“Hello what’s your name? I’m Miss Anderson. How old are you? Have you ever done taekwondo before? No? Well we’re going to have some FUN today!”
I love taekwondo but it wasn’t always so easy. My mom tells me I have Sensory Integrated Dysfunction
(she helped me name it). I didn’t learn
to walk or talk until I was older than when other kids do and I wasn’t able to
eat normal food until I was 5. I went to
a lot of doctors and had therapists help me learn stuff like other kids. It was hard because there were a lot of
things I couldn’t do. But there were a
lot of things I could. My mom told me
she took me to the Ft. Worth stock show and all I wanted to do was stand and
watch kids lassoing a fake bull. For 4 hours
all I did was stand there and watch. I
even ate lunch there just not talking and just watching the other kids lassoing
the bull. All I wanted to do was watch
the other kids try it over and over again until I felt ready to try. And at 4 hours I walked up there and lassoed
the bull on my very first try and I kept doing it over and over perfect because
I had been practicing it in my mind watching the other kids mistakes. My mom says that’s how I work. It’s okay because everyone is different.
On Thursday, May 24, 2007 my best friend
Willie and I graduated from preschool and our moms signed us up for a trial
taekwondo class for a summer activity for us to do together. It was just supposed to be a few weeks of something
fun to do. But I really liked it and
wanted to keep going. It’s where I met 4
year old Jimmy Hollon who was always getting in trouble, forgetting his belt
and getting sent out of class for acting up.
It’s really neat to see him grow up with me in the years. I was the only girl in the Little Dragons
class but I really didn’t mind. There
were lots of teenage girl junior trainees who I really liked and looked up to a
lot. I really liked their red
collars. I wasn’t very good at taekwondo
and I fell over a lot and was very clumsy.
But I wanted to keep at it. I
really liked the forms because they were in patterns and I like when things are
in order. I liked trying to walk on the ‘railroad
tracks’ (walking the tape on the floor). In August I got to do my very first
taekwondo tournament (video of me when I
was really little here: http://goo.gl/6s4RrB). After that I wanted to move to the juniors
class because I felt I didn’t need to be in the little kid class anymore
because I kept knocking over the small bags and it wasn’t much of a challenge. So I got courage and asked all by myself if I
could be in the juniors class and that I knew I could do it. I loved it.
I started doing Ki-Bon everywhere I went. At the store and at the library and when I
started kindergarten I would do it every day at recess. My very first belt test I met Master Strickland. His voice was loud and he was a big giant
scary man. I was afraid to look at him
at the testing. I had just turned 6
years old didn’t know where to stand, how to line up and I really couldn’t do
jumping jacks at all! (http://goo.gl/w6Rho8) 
I tried to do soccer and softball but I
wasn’t as good as the other girls and I didn’t get the ball a lot. But I loved taekwondo because I could do
it. So I kept going and kept testing for
belts. I made some friends like Annie
and Michelle Hollon. I really liked
Annie as she always picked me up and walked around with me. I took class with Alex Fulco and Jordan
Davenport and really liked them too. And
I was scared of the Cleveland girls because they were awesome and scary! I remember Joe Woodard from Saturday belt testing’s
at other schools. I tried out in 2009
for the demo team and made it. I loved
it so much and got to do the Dallas national tournament (http://goo.gl/5KNZ3F). I was the smallest, youngest and lowest
rank. But it really doesn’t matter how
young you are as long as you try hard and want it so that you can do it. And I got my black belt at Christmas and was
so happy. I used the Yoda quote in my
black belt essay too! (http://goo.gl/EsF7pA)
One time I got bullied at school. I didn’t have very many friends outside
taekwondo. One kid who really didn’t
like me pushed me hard off the monkey bars at recess and my scapular bone in my
shoulder got broken. I wasn’t able to do
taekwondo for a while and I was sad.
Then when I was able to do taekwondo again I had my first no change and
it was really hard and I cried. That was
when I met Drew Cain. He was holding the
yellow board when I couldn’t break it on my 3rd try. I almost didn’t want to keep doing
taekwondo. But then I thought about it
and thought it doesn’t matter how slow you go as long as you just keep going. Because of the bullying I had to change
schools. I did a demo for the talent
show at school but I got made fun of and one boy said he was going to break my
arm the way I broke the wood in my demo.
It was really hard but I never stopped loving taekwondo. It was where
everyone was nice to me. Everyone always
cheered for me to do my best. They are my
family. I even got to be in a newspaper story about taekwondo and it made me
feel good (http://goo.gl/Dt61hH). I got really sick for a while and got a virus
in my hip and had to do physical therapy.
I couldn’t do taekwondo and couldn’t test for instructor for a while. I had to quit gymnastics that I had just
started because I wanted to learn to do taekwondo flips. And when I was able to test for instructor I
did not pass the first time I tried. I
was really sad but I just tried again and made it.
One
day I want to own my own school. Or I
want to work for Drew when he takes over for Mr. Strickland. I really like working with Drew. He helps by aggravating me all the time and
helps me to overcome all the mean comments in life and to be a better leader
and he pushes me to be able to run my own class. I also really like Mr. Vickroy. I have known him for years and he is very
patient with me and funny. I like Mrs.
Clements because she pushes me to be a better instructor and she likes Star
Wars too. I like Mr. Strickland very
much and the trust he puts in me as his student and instructor. I am good friends with Natalie Campbell who Drew
and Mrs. Clements say is my partner in crime.
And little Maddox is so cute and helps keeps me on my toes to be better
instructor. Master Strickland and Drew
and all the instructors call me Miss Anderson and I really like that a
lot. I try to go to class 6 days a week
and teaching as many classes as my mom lets me to. But if you see me outside of class you can
call me Jackie. Thank you for reading
and for letting me write my journey.
