have i the courage to change?

Donna
Nov 11
3 min read

In 1997 I began a journey... I walked into my first dojang and took my first tae kwon do class. It was in a small little room with only 4 or 5 students. Right away I knew this was something I was going to love.

After we moved to Buffalo, I joined a new school and progressed from white belt to green belt.

In 1998 we moved back to Sacramento, and I found a new school Robinson's Tae Kwon Do. It was there, under the guidance of Mr. Peschke and Mr. Gonzales, that I worked my way through forms, one steps, sparring combinations, tournaments, board breaking, and many, many classes to earn my 1st degree black belt in October 2000! The black belt pre-test was a grueling test of endurance, knowledge, perseverance, and strength...including breaking boards and a brick in front of 3 judges, my two instructors and Master Robinson.

This was about a year after I got my 1st degree. I was hiding my baby belly (pregnant with Elise).

I continued training, working towards my 2nd degree until Brianna was a toddler and I was pregnant with Elise. During this time, I was bringing Brianna to class in a playpen while taking classes as well as teaching classes. In 2003, I stepped away from martial arts to focus on our children, our family, and my teaching career.

Fast forward to 2016...Elise is about 12 years old, and we discovered that Mr. Peschke had opened his own school, so we started training again. I was working towards my 2nd degree and Elise towards 1st degree.

Elise's first ever class. My first class back after 13 years.

December 2017 I won 1st place in Nationals in forms.

October 2nd was my 2nd degree black belt pre-test at Carmichael Academy, and on October 9th, 2018, I was awarded my 2nd degree black belt once again in front of Master Peschke, Master Gonzales, and also Master Ogata. A lot of blood, sweat, and tears went into accomplishing this goal.. many classes, 2 summer camps, several tournaments, board breaking, and more brick breaking.

I continued training until COVID hit. Elise and I tried to train at home for a little while, and we took some classes in-person once it was OK to do so. But in the winter of 2021, I hurt my hip pretty badly, which prevented me from taking classes. Then, in May 2022, I started my doctorate, leaving me with no time to go to class anymore, and I stopped training.

Fast forward to summer 2025... having finally graduated and finding myself with free time on my hands, I started training again at home, using YouTube videos in my living room. After recovering from my ankle surgery, I made the decision to return to training again.

This time, I decided to return to my roots. I enrolled in the Robinson's Tae Kwon Do dojang located just a few minutes from our home.

This was the scariest and the most thrilling thing I had done since graduating! I was very out of shape, very overweight, and had forgotten just about everything I knew from training. But I bought myself some new (bigger) TKD pants, dug out my old Robinson's uniforms (and jacket), and mustered up the courage to jump in.

16 classes later, I am getting stronger and stronger! I have lost weight and now fit into my original TKD pants! And I have officially relearned 5 of the 12 forms I need to know and 4 of the 30 one steps. I can do (modified) push-ups, sit-ups, and my kicks are getting higher and better.

Since I started my at-home training this summer up to this week, I have lost 22 pounds and went from size 20W pants to 16! All because I had the courage to make the change I needed to become stronger and healthier.

My goal is to test (eventually) for my 3rd degree... though I am in no rush to get there. I have 7 more forms to relearn and lots of other things to master before I will even qualify. But I have planted that seed and hope it works!

In a full circle moment, a few weeks ago, I had the honor to attend a class taught by Grand Master Robinson, the very one who sat as my judge for my 1st degree.