Owen Mahoney Introduction

Hello my name is Owen Mahoney, and I am currently going through the ultimate black belt test.

      I'm not sure how many of the other bloggers know this, but I am not going for my black belt through this test. Though I definitely could, I feel that there is not only a physical age requirement for black belt, but also a certain training requirement for black belt, and also a requirement of experience.

       Let me explain. 

      Maybe I'm an idealist, but I think that a black belt should have a certain mental maturity. This Should mean different things for different people, for instance for some it might mean focus, for some it might mean calmness, for some it might mean discipline. For me it means not getting hyper-focused. For those of you who don't know me, I'm a pretty forgetful person. I don't always forget the big things, but some times I let the little things slide. For instance, I was going to post this on Wednesday, but instead I wrote it and forgot about it until now. Now this isn't always the case, and it doesn't have that great of an effect on who I am, but Its just like a small handicap I have to live with. I'm pretty sure that this comes out of my tendency to get hyper focused. I just get very wrapped up in what I'm doing, and the smaller things tend to fall by the wayside. It's like when you're grappling and you miss the opportunity for a kimura because you really want to triangle a person. If I could learn to see the big picture as well as the small, then I could be a better person, student, employee, and grappler. This is something I have to improve before I could get my Black Belt. And I think that this is a quality that age would bring.

      For another thing, I don't want to be a person who is looked on as one who got his whizzed through the ranks easily and was given a black belt. Not that any person who knew our dojo would think that someone here was given a black belt, but I wouldn't want another martial artist to think it. I think that there is a certain connotation that comes with getting a black belt at a young age. I also think that A black belt should have experience, both in and out of the martial arts. I don't want to be a black belt who cant represent his rank. There are so many things a black bet should represent other than proficiency in material and physical strength. A black belt should (in my opinion) have years of experience and years worth of knowledge.

       So now I've told you all the reasons I don’t want my black belt yet. which begs the question, Why am I participating in this test? There are several reasons I want to be in this test, the fact that I want to be the best martial artist I can, the fact that I want to be part of the first time this program runs, and also that I want to challenge myself.

       In short, I want to be the best person l can before I get my black belt, but as sensei like to say, you don’t get a black belt and then start acting like one.