Karate Kid
by Lilly Johnson | Class of 2022 | Dec. 10, 2018
Freshman Beau Smith is most commonly known for being smart, athletic, and musically inclined, but he has another talent: tae-kwon-do.
Smith has achieved a third degree black belt in his six years in the sport.
“It was really hard to get this far,” said Smith, who trained for an entire summer. He ran three miles every morning and did one hundred sit ups and push ups each night before bed- all to get the top honor in the sport
All of his hard work paid off. It only took him two and a half years to achieve the 1st degree black belt. On average, it takes about three years. He even got to skip three ranks because he was more advanced than the others in his rank.
Normally, after the three years to get the 1st degree black belt, it takes one more year to get the second degree black belt, and another two years to get the third degree. Smith would spend two hours, four days a week practicing at Jensen’s Ultimate Tae-kwon-do, before it closed.
Now, having the 3rd degree black belt, he is qualified to open his own tae-kwon-do club, if he wanted to. This freshman, who plans to become a computer programmer someday, does not. But that doesn't mean that Smith thinks his time was wasted.
He is planning to continue his practice during college, but he is for now taking a break.
“Tae-kwon-do is not only physically good for me,” Smith said, “it really helped me learn a lot about discipline and respect.”