Fighting My Way to Health by Elizabeth

Fighting My Way to Health by Elizabeth - September 2022 Scholarship Essay

Five years ago, I could not run an eighth of a mile; I was an asthmatic, unathletic, weak, and arguably overweight eleven year old girl. Now, if I could give only one piece of advice to my younger self, it would be that with God, hard work, and the right people around you, nothing is impossible. I am now sixteen and after four years of mixed martial arts I have run multiple 5ks, fought in multiple cage fights, lasted all three rounds in my last cage fight, and become Red belt Gup 2, which is two ranks away from Black belt.

All of this progress started with joining Christian Do Karate (CDK), a free mixed martial arts school. CDK is based on three principles: discipline, dedication, and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, so My parents were excited to enroll us during open enrollment in August 2018. This decision was mostly for my little sister, Anna, to have a sport to run off her abundant amounts of energy, but I quickly came to love MMA and advanced in ranks faster than the rest of my class. By the time I got my purple belt, which is the next belt after white, I made friends with my classmates, and that kept (and continues to keep) me passionate for this oftentimes painful and grueling sport. We learned MMA and grew in our faith together, all doing MMA to glorify God.

However, MMA twice a week alone wasn’t enough to become a warrior, and my coach knew this. So, for my green belt test, I was given the opportunity to go to a running workout for extra points. After the long and hard cardio workout, I decided to try to keep going on a regular basis in hopes of improving my asthma and lasting longer in cage fights. I started becoming a healthier weight, growing stronger, and even getting to the point where my asthma almost never affects my day to day life unless I’m sick.

I believed my asthma would keep me from ever living a “normal” life, and that I would never be good at any sport. I had tried multiple sports before, but I never committed to them nearly as much as MMA. I now have my own class on Monday nights where I teach new students their basic techniques and stances for CDK, and I continue to train in hopes of one day soon becoming a black belt. Because of my commitment to better myself in martial arts, a coach who believed in me, my friends' support (and oftentimes their punches and choke holds), and my commitment to do this all for the glory of God, my life has completely changed for the better. This matters to anyone else who is pursuing a goal, because all of these principles apply to far more goals than colors of belts.