Lopez - What Being A Coach Mean`s To Me . .

      " Leader`s Aren`t Born , They Are Made . They Are Made Just Like Anything Else , Through Hard Work " This Quote Was Once Said By , Brendan Francis . The Reason Why I Picked This Quote Was Because If You Were To Ask Me Exactly What This Quote Meant To Me I`d Not Only Be Able To Tell You About It , But I`d Be Able To Show You As Well .

      About 9 Year`s Ago , I Had The Chance To Begin With One Of The Most Popular Korean Martial Art`s , Tae Kwon Do . Within The First Week`s Of Attending Classes With One Of My Old Instructor`s , That`s When I Realized That My Passion For A Sport Such As Tae Kwon Do Had Started . For About A Year Or Two , I`d Attend Classes Regularly And Reached The Point To Where I Had Officially Earned My Brown Belt In Tae Kwon Do . Until This Very Day , I`m Very Grateful For Reaching To That Point With The Help Of My Old Instructor , Former Classmate`s And  Of Course My Parent`s , Because Without Them I Wouldn`t Of Been Able To Get To That Point . Another Person Who I`m Very Grateful For And Who Alway`s Stuck Around By My Side During All The Time Was My Sister , Michelle . We`d Attend Classes Together Ever Since We Started Off As White Belt`s All The Way To The Day We Tested For Our Brown Belt`s . I`m Very Grateful For Having Her Because At First We`d Both Have Low Self - Esteem , But We Had Promised Each Other That Neither Of Us Would Give Up , No Matter What . Until This Very Day , I Can Proudly Say That My Sister And I Still Haven`t Broken That Promise And We Know That No Matter What We Have Each Other`s Back .

      After Training Tae Kwon Do For About 3 Year`s , My Sister And I Decided To Look Into Other Sport`s Such As Muay Thai , Jiu Jitsu , Boxing And Karate . So We Decided To Check Out Some School`s That Were Fairly Close To Where We Lived At That Time , And The Only Fair Close School That Offered Muay Thai , Jiu Jitsu And Kickboxing Classes Was KRU Training . At The Point , I Would Of Never Figured That I`d Get To The Point Where I`m At Right Now . At First We Started With A Month Trial , Which My Sister And I Attended The Kid`s MMA Program Every Tuesday And Thursday , And Sometime`s Friday`s . We Started Off As Brown Belt`s When We First Started To Attend The Kid`s MMA Program , A Couple Month`s After That I Was Placed In An Adult Class For Muay Thai , Due To My Age Because The Kid`s MMA Program Was Only Between The Age`s Of 9 To 12 . For The Very First Month`s I`d Say That I Considered Myself Very Shy And My Thought`s About Being Moved Up To A Different Age Group Weren`t So Good At That Time Because That Meant That I`d Be Seperated From My Sister And I`m Be With A Group Of People Who Were A Higher Rank Than Me And Also Older Than Me . As Time Went By , I Began To Become More Social Of Course With The Help Of  My Coaches And Assistant Coaches , As Well As The People That Attended Classes Just Like Me . After I Started To Become More Social I Started To Focus On My Coaches And Assistant Coaches And Of Course Master Ace , And Realized That Someday I`d Like To Be Just Like Them . Someone I`ve Alway`s Looked Up To Ever Since I Started To Train At KRU Training Was And Still Is Master Ace Ramirez . " When I Grow Up , I Want To Be Just Like Him " Are The Exact Word`s I`d Think Everytime I Walked Into KRU And Saw How He`d Teach The Higher Rank`s And Other Classes As Well . I`m Very Grateful To Have Master As One Of My Coaches In Muay Thai , Along With KRU Joe Cantrell And Former Coaches , Clement And Gerald . Without Them I Wouldn`t Be Where I Am Now , Going To Test For My Red And Black And Become A Coach .

        To Become A Coach , Is Not A Right It`s A Privilege That Not Most People Get . Becoming A Coach To Me Also Means That Not Only Am I Able To Train , But To Share What I`ve Learned This Past Couple Year`s And Help Out And Encourage New Student`s At KRU Training To Get To The Point Where I Am Or Even Higher . Ever Since I Tested For My Red Rank In Muay Thai , I`ve Been Assisting Classes Along With Other Assistant Coaches During The Week And It`s Helped Me Get My Self - Esteem And Push Myself To Doing Thing`s I Would Of Never Imagined From The Day I First Walked Into KRU . There`s Been Some Rough Time`s , And I Definitely Don`t Regret Anything Since I Started Training Because At The End Of The Day I`m Glad That I`m Part Of A KRU , Which Is Like A Second Family And Home For Me . Especially , My Coaches , Assistant Coaches And Of Course , My Team . In Less Then 24 Hour`s I Will Be Testing For My Red And Black Along With Other Assistant Coaches And I`m Nervous , Just Like Before Every Testing But It`s All Worth It , Without A Doubt . All In All , I`d Like To Thank Master Ace For Guiding Me Up To This Point And Also For Giving Me This Opportunity As Well , As KRU Joe And KRU Chris .