17 years old/3rd Degree Black Belt It always seems impossible until it's done. Discuss Kung Fu’s affect on your social skills and the changes in how you interact with people both in and outside of the classroom. (Friends, Family, Teachers, Peers, Strangers, etc.) My speech is on Kungfu’s effect on my social skills, and how it’s changed how I interact with people inside and outside of the classroom.
I felt that it was most relevant to my experience growing up being very reserved. In my childhood, I found it difficult to express my opinions and emotions to everyone, even my loved ones, and I have a very quiet voice and nature. When my parents put me into kung-fu 11 years ago, my quiet nature became an issue.
My experience started to really pick up when I took my first black belt test in 2018, though. I was 12, and I remember the constant training we had to do similar to the weekly practices we did for this test. The amount of time I spent with my classmates, along with my recent shift to the Wednesday class they were all in, gave me enough confidence to reach out and befriend some of them.
I mark this as a turning point in my young life. Without motivation to reach out to classmates I wasn't familiar with, I wouldn’t have known a lot of people I care about now, and I’d still be the reserved, silent kid in class. So personally, I believe what was most important about my improvement in social skills from kung-fu was my initiative to take the first step.
I don’t think a change in confidence or social skills equates a change of personality.
I didn’t suddenly become loud and assertive just because my social skills improved with kung-fu’s help.
My social progress came in different ways, through small changes in confidence, the way I carry myself, and my willingness to come up here and give this speech. In the future, I think what I've learned here at kungfu will probably help me to develop myself socially as I continue to grow and become a working adult post-college.
I’m very grateful to my parents. For years now, they’ve been transporting me back and forth from kung-fu, comforting me if I came home in tears after classes (which was quite often), and trying to help build my confidence up.
I don’t think I could‘ve made as much progress as I have without their encouragement. I’m also very thankful to Shifu, who has always pushed me towards progress, even if I’m not feeling it, and staying patient with me even when I take a little slower to progress in skills than others.
