Courage

Kierstan was the name of one of the blackbelt candidates (see "Blackbelt" 11/20). I don't know her and have never met her, but after that day, I have a ton of respect for her.

Kierstan was the smallest of the three blackbelt candidates. She's 11, but looks like she's younger. She sailed through the first part of the test and wrote what I thought was the best essay of the three. But, she had trouble with the physical challenges.

The first challenge was board breaking. Kierstan went first. Each kick was preceded by about 30 seconds of mental preparation. Then, when she thought she was mentally ready, she tried to break the board. Her first three kicks failed. On her fourth attempt, she got frustrated and tried to kick the board three times in rapid succession. It didn't break.

"Stop!" ordered the teacher.

He called Kierstan over to him. He said, in a very soft voice; "I know you can do this. I've seen you do this. The question is, do you believe that you can do this? Sit down and think about it."

Kierstan sat down and started sobbing.

The other candidates took their turns. Each broke their board with little problem.

It was Kierstan's turn again.

Kierstan wiped her eyes and calmly stepped up to the board. She took a couple of practice kicks. She took her stance, bounced lightly on her feet, then kicked the board so hard that it blew apart.

The crowd cheered, but the test wasn't over.

Next was the sparring. Two 3 minute rounds of sparring against 5 adult opponents, then three 5 point matches against adults and finally two 5 point matches against the other candidates.

Kierstan was beaten badly by everyone.

She kept getting knocked out of the ring and off of her feet. Each time her turn ended, she went to her rest area and cried.

But she never gave up. Each time it was her turn again, she went back into the ring. Each time she was knocked down, she got back up. She took a solid kick to the head that knocked flat on her back. She got up. She took a blow to her chest that sent her flying about 3 feet. She got back up. It was an incredible display of courage.

After that, breaking the brick seemed easy.

When Kierstan was awarded her belt, the crowd gave her the loudest ovation.

I've never been so proud of someone I'd never met.