The picture above was taken on one of the happiest days of my entire life. March 25, 2017 was the day I earned my black belt. Although I was only 11 years-old I noticed something strange. I had observed that I was one of only two girls who received their black belts that day and we were the youngest amongst them. Even back then I realized that there was not a lot of girls who did martial arts and little did I know it that the topic of women in sports would become something that I'm very passionate about.       Throughout my life I've been very vocal about the fact that I do Taekwondo and that I'm a black belt. As I grew up, people would start to make comments about the fact that I did Taekwondo. Usually after I bring it up men normally make the following remarks. "Boys better stay away from you." "I didn't know girls were allowed to do that!" "Have you ever beat someone up just because you can?" "Really, you just look so small, I...

The past weekend  USA Taekwondo  hosted the Final Championships in Tulsa, Oklahoma. They call this tournament Finals because it is the last tournament in the competition season. It is a very long and treacherous process to get to compete in this competition. To go to Finals an athlete has to earn a medal at either the regional or national competitions that happened earlier this year. Just being able to get to go to Finals is a huge win, but a competition like this is an entirely new beast. At Finals the athletes are the best of the best, so to receive a medal at Finals means that an athlete is within the top 15 people in their division out of everyone in the country. Finals are also a pretty big deal because it is the final tournament an athlete has to medal at before than can go on to team trials where they compete to be on Team USA.  The matchups in both Sparring and Forms (Pommsae) for this competition were nothing short of greatness.  The Sparring matches were im...

       Over the summer I had the privilege of going to USA Taekwondo Nationals in Fort Worth, Texas. While I was there I kept hearing all of this buzz about how all four of the people who would be representing team USA in the Olympics for Taekwondo would be at the competition. Not only would they be there, but they were doing interviews, autographs, and photos. When the came I waited in line for what felt like forever to meet the people who would in less than a month be on a flight to Paris. First in line was  Kristina Teachout . Among all of the athletes you could tell that she was the most excited to be at the event. Taking pictures with everyone in line and making sure to give all the kids a high-five. She was so nice to everyone in our group, making sure to give us a confidence boost before our matches that would follow in the coming days. It was only less than a month later I would be at home watching her compete in her first Olympic Games. I remember the m...

 I mentioned in the last blog post that I've been doing Taekwondo almost my entire life, but I wanted to show you guys a visual representation of that. The top picture is three of my instructors and I when I achieved my green belt at five years old. In the picture below it is a few of my instructors, friends, and I. If you look at the pictures closely you will notice that that there are still some of the same people in both pictures. These pictures were taken almost 13 years apart. My point of this comparison is to show that thought my martial arts journey I've not only driven by the passion of doing Taekwondo, but continually fueled by my training partners and instructors. Achieving hard things cannot be a solo journey, it takes your village to help you along the way. In Taekwondo when you compete you do so individually, but you are never really alone because you have your team behind you.   

  Hi, I'm Rachel. I'm a fourth degree black belt in Taekwondo who's been training for 14 years. Throughout the entirety of my martial arts career I've trained at the Michigan Academy of Taekwondo or MAT which is located in Northville, Michigan. Over the years I've been lucky enough to train with many skilled instructors and competitors. I've gained so much of their knowledge and experience that I hope to share with you through this blog.