5 Reasons Why I Love Taekwondo For My Daughter

My daughter Lucy is an amazing young lady. Seriously, she is the kindest, most caring, and gentle old soul that I have ever known. She's sweet and funny and always sees the good in people, even when they don't deserve it! She's been like that her entire life and she's almost 15. So that says a lot.

Unfortunately, this gets her walked all over more often than not. It gets her made fun of and ridiculed. It gets her treated like crap. And you know what happens when you're made fun of and treated like crap by your peers on a daily basis for years? 

Your self esteem plummets. You question everything about yourself. You second guess every single thing you do. You don't like yourself. You start to withdraw from the world around you. Cuz being a tween or teenage girl isn't hard enough on it's own, right?

Two years ago, we could see it.. We could see the spiral starting to go deeper and deeper and we knew we had to find something for her. She had done soccer in a local league but she got treated like crap and told daily that she sucked by most of her teammates because she didn't perform up to their standards. Her last coach was awful. I vividly remember him running them and running them and running them lap upon lap around the park on an almost 100° day. And I watched her stop running and stand in the middle of the field. I could HEAR her struggling to breathe while sitting in my truck. From all the way across the field. He was not even 10 feet from her and didn't even acknowledge what was going on. I ran to her and literally had to hold her up while telling her "BREATHE, BABY! BREATHE!" (We found out shortly after that, that she had asthma) And not one time did her coach even ask if she was ok. We tried to get her put on a different team, but they wouldn't cuz her jersey was already printed for that team. So we pulled her from the league.

Then one day, I saw a post on Facebook for Rising Star Martial Arts in our area. My cousin had a daughter there and I asked her about it. She raved about it so we brought Lucy for a trial class. She second guessed everything she did but for the first time in a long time, I watched her face light up with excitement. 

Lucy getting her white belt:

Watching everyone gather around her and clap and cheer for her as she got her white belt, I couldn't help but cry. THIS was what she needed. THIS was home. 

Over the last two years, we have watched her work her tail off. We have watched her become more confident. We have watched her still second guess herself, but attack her goals head on anyway. We have watched her make real friends. And the next belt she will be testing for will be her black belt. 

Here she is, after getting her red belt with black stripe. 

Ok, ok, I'll get to the 5 Reasons Why I Love Taekwondo For My Daughter now. 

5. It has had an extremely positive influence on her and her life. She can relate lessons learned from Taekwondo to so many different areas of her life.

4. She has made real genuine friendships with so many awesome people that share many of the same values she has. She is accepted for who she is. 

3. Nothing is GIVEN. It is EARNED. Through blood, sweat, and yes, sometimes tears. Through dedication and commitment. You earn it every step of the way and you NEVER GIVE UP. 

 2. She can defend herself. Let's face it, this world is becoming a scary place. There are so many sick people in this world and there is always the possibility of being thrown into a situation where she will need to defend herself. It eases my mind a bit to know that should the need ever arise (and I pray to God that it never does) she will be able to handle it. 

1. It has shown her the beauty, power, and strength of her body AND mind. It has shown her that she CAN do ANYTHING she puts her mind to, no matter how difficult it may seem. 

 For those reasons (plus So many more!!) I cannot recommend Taekwondo enough! I only wish that I had stuck with it myself for longer when I was a kid!

Edited later to add:
My beautiful amazing daughter placed Grand Champion at her Summer Tournament. Super proud mama moment!