Seriously, this kid is awesome! So I thought I’d tell you about her amazing martial arts journey. Courtney just turned 10 this past January and had earned her first degree Black Belt in Shotokan karate a year ago this coming April. She started taking regular karate classes in 2010 when she was around 7 and a half. Three years before that, I was working full-time and Courtney attended day care. One of the summer programs that her daycare had signed up for was weekly karate classes for ages 3-5. Courtney was 4 and a half at the time. It was a brand new karate school at the time (the original location is in a neighboring town about 30 minutes or so away) and it was right up the street from the day care, so it was perfect for both parties. All I can say is Courtney FELL IN LOVE with karate. For 2 summers, she went to the dojo every Friday at 4:00 and the class would last about 45 minutes. They even gave her a gi and awarded her a white belt. After those 2 summers, the daycare decided that they were going to go a different route with their summer programs (field trips that were WAAAAY to far away for my comfort!) and discontinued the karate classes.
For the next year and a half, every time we would pass the dojo, Courtney would BEG me to go in to see her former Sensei. Since I had always been at work while she was at the dojo, I had never gotten to see Courtney in action. I never got see what these karate classes were all about; let alone who the Sensei was! At the time, my husband and I had been contemplating the idea of me leaving my full-time job. I drove quite a way to and from work and never would have been able to get her to karate class in time, so I told Courtney that when the opportunity came to us for me to be a stay at home mom again, I would go and meet her Sensei and sign her up for regular karate classes. On October 11, 2010, the first day of my new stay at home mom role, we did just that.
I took Courtney to karate every day except for Sunday, she LOVED it! She never wanted to miss a class. I can honestly say that she has a gift. She has found her passion. Her dream is to own her own dojo and be a karate instructor when she grows up.
Courtney still never misses class. We are at the dojo six days a week. Her Sensei has her lead the warm up’s before each class and help other fellow students with their training……even some of the ADULT Black Belts!
A little over a year after we signed Courtney up, I got myself on the mat too! (more on that in an upcoming post!)
A BLACK BELT IS A WHITE BELT THAT NEVER GAVE UP!!!
Your daughter is beyond cool! I wish I did some kind of marital art as a child, this earns her tons of cool and toughness points. No one will want to mess with her
that’s the way to do it! Who knows maybe Courtney will be a famous karate star one day 
Thank you! I will have to tell her about your sweet comment! She will be thrilled! She’s even got her own little blog! She’s also a makeup fanatic! You can check it out if you’d like. There’s a link on the About page of my site.
Good job on the black belt!
I started karate when I was about 35 and totally wished I had started younger. I have since stopped for now, but I consider it to be an invaluable lesson. Good for her! They always need females as trainers too in my opinion.
Thank you! I’ll be sure to share your comment with Courtney! It’s totally never to late to start karate! I sat with the other parents for a year and a half before getting out there myself (at age 36!) and now I have my Junior black belt!
Also we’ve got a sweet lady in our class that just earned her black belt at age 65!!!!
I completely agree, it is never too late and so good for body and soul.
Your daughter is gorgeous and absolutely amazing! I’m so impressed.
Thank you so much! I know that she will appreciate your comment, too!