Sophomore Clara Lozar has practiced martial arts for almost 5 years. Specifically, she practices a form called Tang Soo Do in the style of Moo Duk Kwan, which is a Korean-based form of martial arts. The sport teaches her self-defense skills and allows her to learn about other cultures.
Lozar acknowledges the morals and values that come with the sport and how being taught these lessons makes an impact on her own life. She believes that the sport is more than just physical as it helps her improve her mentality and her moral ideas.
“The style is self defense, but there’s also a lot of life lessons that the instructors teach, like integrity, initiative, as well as teamwork and leadership,” Lozar said. “There’s [also] a lot of leadership aspects in order to get higher in the ranks.”
Lozar feels that the culture of martial arts is not only present in training, but also in other characteristics of living, especially school. The values they teach in the process of training can also be incorporated into other aspects of life.
“Our master instructor, Sa Bo Nim, talks about how an A is the Asian F,” Lozar said. “The [higher] you get in ranks, especially when you’re slowly getting closer and closer to your black belt, the higher expectations they have for you – especially in school.”
Lozar also highlights the importance of finding balance – not only physical, but mental and emotional as well. Learning to stabilize her life, schoolwork and her physicality all comes with the lessons she is taught.
“The higher you get the more you train,” Lozar said. “It’s time balancing and schedule balancing with everything you have – like homework, class and other extracurriculars, so you kinda have to work it out.”
As Lozar continues to practice martial arts, she’s able to learn more about how she can incorporate skills into her daily life. She has managed to improve both her organization skills and her self-awareness through martial arts.
“The journey between things like stances in general gets more complicated as you move up in the ranks.” Lozar said. “In a sense, you’re fixing yourself as you move up. It’s cool to see improvement through other people and through yourself.”
Martial arts helps Lozar improve her health and better herself. There are expectations that come with such a unique sport, like the pressure to lift her rank and perfect her technique.
“Holding yourself up to higher expectations is harder to do because you get really hard on yourself,” Lozar said. “I just know my parents have high expectations for me because of how I do at my sport and how well I do at school. They keep those expectations high and when I slip they notice, [they] get me to bring it back up.”
Lozar believes that the sport’s purpose is larger than being able to protect yourself in a time of desperation; it is an outline to understanding how to go through life with peace, power and a knowledge of the world.
“We have ten articles of faith, and it is [to] respect your family, respect your brothers and sisters, be good to everyone around you and respect their family,” said Lozar. “All those things are super important in everyday life and you don’t really look at it until you’re introduced to it in a sport.”
