Jasmine Lewis, 10

“I went through a couple of pretty bad injuries — there’s one that stood out to me though. I split my knuckle. It was so quick I didn’t even know what happened. I was going to throw a punch directly next to his head, and he dodged a lot more … I just swung through the mirror, and it shattered. When you ask [me about being proud of martial arts], I don’t think of medals, I don’t think of how far I’ve gotten with my belts or how many uniforms, or all those badges I’ve had from competitions. I think about me being able to recover from this specific injury because it was really painful, and I honestly just wanted to quit. It was too much. I think I just reached my breaking point, and I just was super burnt out at the time — so I was just gonna quit. And right when I was about to go in and say, ‘Coach, sensei, I don’t wanna do this anymore,’ I changed my mind, and I said, ‘When do you think I’ll be able to come back again; when is the next practice? Cause I’ll be there.’ I kinda just worked through that pain … I’m not any more tolerant towards pain now, but I definitely learned that if I want something, I’ll go after it. And I’m not gonna quit.”