The reason I joined started taking classes in Kung Fu at the American Academies of Martial Arts in Bellevue is that I recently quit my last physical activity, which was dance and I needed something physical to do and one of my friends did martial arts near Omaha and she said it was really fun.

So I thought to myself, “Oh, I should check it out,” and we started looking around, all different schools and stuff and we found this one and I also started doing it because I was like getting into the stage where I started having like major self-esteem going on and that really helped out that, too, so that’s why.

When I started, I felt really, really awkward about coming in to Kung Fu classes because when I walked, I was just like all these people are really experienced and really, really good at what they’re doing and I had the mindset that I couldn’t be that good as those people were and I was comparing my skill set, when I didn’t even start to people who’ve been doing it two years, and that was a really uncomfortable feeling and like I didn’t know anyone and I’m really bad with social stuff in the beginning so it’s just like, oh, okay, this is strange and that happened.

Taking regular classes in Kung Fu has really, really helped me. It’s helped with a lot of confidence issues and not just in like physical stuff like doing how many pushups in gym class and it’s helped me feel like I can do a lot more in intellectual studies and like gym, I guess, in all aspects of my life and it’s really helped me feel like a better person and like I’m a good human being while doing it. It’s really nice.

I would tell someone who is hesitant about martial arts and kung fu in and around Omaha, Nebraska to do it but still wanted to just to try it, because if they don’t end up liking it, that’s fine, but I was really hesitant and my mom actually wanted to get me to do and she was like, “You should do this,” and I was like, “No, I don’t,” and I ended up loving it and I’ve been here for a really long time now and I would tell them just to try it, because yeah.