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| Sarah E. Adkins, AKJU Team America |
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| Hello, and welcome to my personal page on the Martial Arts and me! After creating two Martial Arts Pages, I thought it was time to build one dedicated to myself! The following will present my trials and tribulations with the Martial Arts, as well as my WONDERFUL, REWARDING experiences. Also, there will be picture, and very helpful links. To start you off with a couple of links, here are some to the two MA pages I've made! AKJU: East Liverpool MUC Martial Arts Club |
| I began in the Martial Arts when I was seven or eight years old. My first intructor was Sensei Mike Shaw of the Shotokan Karate Club. I went up to a purple belt in Shotokan, and competed in one tournament in 1989, receiving two second place trophies- one for kata, and one for sparring. Around 1995, I joined Scott DeSarro's Dragon Tae Kwon Do Club, and once again progressed to a purple belt. I quit this club for various reasons, mainly being financial. In 1998, after a year or two of no karate, I could not stay away any longer. I began attending classes at the area YMCA under Sensei Rick Cable in Ko Sutemi Seiei Kan Karate Do and Ju-Jitsu. Currently, I am still with this class, and have a shodan black belt in karate, and a blue belt in Ju-Jitsu. |
| I have since competed in several tournaments. My favorites have been the AKJU-run tournaments, most of which are on an international level. I also have competed in smaller PKC-sanctioned tournaments. My awards are as follows: Second Place- Weapons Fourth Place- Kata Fourth Place- Sparring Thrid Place- Ju-Jitsu Randori Fourth Place- Kata 8/4/01: First Place- Kumite (Women's Brown Belt) Second Place: Kata Third Place: Weapons First Place: Kumite, Kata, and Kobudo |
| For me, the most challenging experience I've had in the Martial Arts was the test for my first tip on my brown belt (which I'm sure will be surpassed by the test for my second tip). For this test, Anthony Pietromonaco and myself travelled with our parents, instructor, and some friends to our main dojo in Chillicothe, OH. We arrived the night before after a much to long 6 hour drive, and attempted to sleep before our big test. In the test, we had to go through all of our katas (empty-hand and weapon), know all of our terminology, recite our creed, and spar. The sparring was the most challenging part. After already sparring twice, we had to individually fight 5 students at once, all of higher rank. After no break, we then fought eight black belts for two minutes each in a row. It was a very exhausting, but a fun and rewarding experience. My second tip test was held July 8th, 2001. I passed! I received my black belt in a ceremony on December, 2001!!! (Pictures soon!) |
| Pictured, is me with Traylin Smith (A WORLD CHAMP) after my first brown belt tip test |
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| Phillip Mallory, Craig, and myself |
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| On this page... *Introduction *Martial Arts Background |
| *All American* |
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