Brett Alan Gets His Blue Belt [PICTURES]

My son decided a few years ago that he wanted to become a kung-fu master. We’ve always wanted our kids to try out new things, so we decided to let him take a shot at karate. I had no idea then what he was getting me into!

We tried out a local school called The Defensive Arts Dojo in Hamburg. Within just one class, my daughter decided that she wanted to give it a shot too. So shortly after my son started, my daughter joined in. Needless to say, we started to spend a lot of time at the dojo.

One day while watching Madelynn in class, the owner of the dojo came to me and said, “Hey, how would you like to try out our Brazilian Jiu Jitsu program? We are just starting it up at this school, so everyone will be on the same level, but if you’re interested, stop by when it starts up in a few weeks. I think you’ll like it.”

My initial thought: Not a chance. I’m very much like the Eric Church song lyric from “Guys Like Me” that says “I don’t like to fight but I ain’t scared to bleed”. I’ll avoid a fight as often as I can. But I still wanted to be active, and I have always been intrigued by martial arts. So I signed up.

It‘s one of the best things I’ve ever done. I cannot say enough about the program and my incredibly positive experience there. It’s been two years since I started training, and on Monday, I had the opportunity to test for my blue belt.

It was rough! I thought I was going to die just 20 minutes in but stuck it out for the two-hour period and was awarded my blue belt at the end of the night. I cannot express how incredibly proud I am to be a member of a school where its instructors care so much about the students and the students encourage each other so much.  If you’re already in a school like this, you know what I mean. If you’re not, I would totally encourage you to give it a try yourself.