According to Olympics, karate is a Japanese martial art that “uses striking techniques with hands, feet, elbows, and knees, as well as blocking and grappling, to develop physical and mental discipline.” Recently, freshman Jack Shields attended a karate competition in New York, and ended it with success.

     According to Shields, “I heard there was this annual tournament that goes on every year. It was around mid-summer when I heard I was able to go up to New York if I wanted to go compete in this [tournament]. I was like, ‘Heck yeah, I’ve wanted to do this forever.’” The freshman continues, “It was definitely difficult; there were a lot more fight classes, and a lot more conditioning. Besides that, I didn’t really do as much to prepare for it as you see in the movies, like the montages. [It was] just normal training, just more often.”

     To train, Shields, “would just [do] sparring – just getting better at the things I’m already good at. With the amount of time I had, I didn’t have the time to learn any brand-new stuff, and get it down to the point where I could throw it in a competitive fight. I only had the time to just get better at the things I was already good at.”

     Regarding his high placement, Shields says, “I wasn’t disappointed at all. I walked in there ready to come out in the bottom 100. I came out second in the actual [fighting], and then I came out second in another event; the best way I could describe it is like a drill, but it looks cool.”

     Shields said he  first got into karate when he was “four-years-old” after watching The Karate Kid. He adds that “there’s only really one negative about [karate], which is that it takes a lot of time. There is a lot of wanting to give up. But, overall, it’s good for your mental health and for your physical health, and for your confidence. Without karate, I’d be a completely different person.”

     The freshman finishes that he would “definitely recommend” karate, “if you’re someone who has a lot of energy or stress issues. You come home, and your brain won’t shut up? You get to go to karate and just let everything out.”