As a Wuxia novel fan and someone who is generally good at sports, I’ve always wanted to try out Taekwondo. However, due to the myth (or fact? idk) that stretching your legs too much as a kid will damage the growth in terms of height, my mom never let me learn it.

When I first got to college, since my body growth had already become stagnant, I went to a training of the Taekwondo club in my school to get a taste of it, and boy was I impressed. The staggering physique of the black belters hitting a pad at high speed with their foot and the loud and crisp sound accompanying it is just so damn shocking, and I immediately fell in love with it.

The Start

It was more satisfying than any other sports I’ve tried, even football, in the first few training I participated in. Over time, I still found playing football giving me more dopamine, but I still frequented the Taekwondo club as it was still fun.

Climbing the Levels

The seniors there told me that you can achieve a black belt in as short as 2 years at the very start, but I was like I was here just for the enjoyment, not getting some belts, so it wasn’t until the 2nd semester did I start to participate in the leveling up exam.

The leveling system in Taiwan, is a scam. To level up and get a belt of a different color, you need to, basically, do a dance, following a set of predefined movements. These movements are utterly useless. For each move, they’ll tell you what it’s for, for example, twisting your fist from the back of your head to the front of your chest may be to defend a kick from your opponent with your forearm, however, no one will use that in the real fight ever.

So you’ll have to practice these useless movements over and over again to remember their order and perfecting your stance, pay some money, be examined by the coach in the exam, and then get a new belt.

Preparing for the leveling exams really is some of the most boring things ever, but as they didn’t really take much time, I still did them and played the leveling-up game. My main enjoyment however, still came from doing the regular training and kicking the pads.

Obtaining the Black Belt

Due to covid, the Taekwondo club along with many other things was stopped for about 1 year in total, including 1 semester in each of the 2 outbreaks in Taiwan respectively. And by the time I reached the red belt, I had completely lost interest in Taekwondo. I didn’t have much time to go to the club either, as I was going to labs, leetcoding, and applying for internships. But I still went to the training when I have time to practice the set of movement patterns needed for the black belt exam.

On September 2022, right before the start of my senior year, I went to the black belt exam. Shamefully, I forgot a movement and its subsequent ones when doing Taegeuk Oh Jang (why not just translate it as Tai Chi Chapter 5 is beyond me), but I acted as if nothing happens, skipped those parts, and continued in what the other participants were doing. Fortunately, I was not caught as the judge was overseeing like 12 people at the same time, and I received the black belt as well as the international Taekwondo membership or whatever half a year later.

Super glad that it is finally over. It really was just a chore toward the end of my journey.