My name is Tina, born and raised most of my life in Ohio. I have been married to a wonderful man for 33 years, and fortunate to have one special daughter. We moved to Nevada 9 years ago, and were enjoying alot of sunshine :o). My hobbies are martial arts, teaching women's self defense classes, woodworking, fishing, baseball, volleyball, crafts and web design. My favorite color is mauve. I enjoy dancing, canoeing, playing cribbage, traveling and love to meet people. I have been involved in the Martial Arts for almost 30 years.
The reason I became involved in the Martial Arts was being afraid to stay by myself at night. My hubby got tired of me being afraid and signed me up for a Self Defense class for women. I never knew the Martial Arts had so much to offer, and had no intention on staying with it. As I became more involved, it became part of my life and I set a goal to become a Black Belt. To me it was a great achievement to become a Black Belt.
There are several different styles in the Martial Arts, including hard and soft styles. A few of the hard styles I was involved in are Karate, which uses a half and half combination of the hands and feet, Tae Kwon Do, which specializes in high areial kicks, and Jujitsu, which uses locks, holds, and strangulation manuevers. Some of the soft styles I was involved in were Kung Fu, which is based on five animal forms and Tai Chi, which taught me several breathing techniques to relieve stress and tension. 
The Martial art schools that I belonged to taught me Basics, which are a series of punching and kicking drills. I was also taught forms or katas which are a series of choreographed movements of attack, defense, and counter attack. I learned many different techniques to defend myself in self defense and was also taught many different weapons in which I learned proper handling techniques. I was taught Sparring, which is also called Kumite in which I learned tournament and street fighting. A Dojo, is a training place where I practiced Martial Arts. A Black Belt is the first significant rank in the Martial Arts which allows me to teach or instruct others. There are several different belt ranks that I trained and tested for, before becoming a Black Belt.
There are two different sports in the Martial Arts, Sport Karate, and the other is Kickboxing. I competed in Sport Karate, in which I wore protective gear, and I am judged.
Martial Arts is a sport for the entire family in which my daughter and I have both benefited. To the young it gives self-confidence, to the teen it teaches discipline, and to the adult it enhances life. I was very proud when I received my Black Belt, but my pride was nothing compared to the admiration I felt for the handicapped people I seen compete. There was a ten year old boy confined to a wheel chair with cerbral palsey and a male in his early twenties, both armless.
Martial Arts gave me excellent physical condition, cardiovascular exercise and gave me a sense of well being. Martial Arts taught me respect for others, confidence in myself, responsibility, awareness and self control.
In today's world of video games and couch potatoes, violence and fear, stress and family dissolution, Martial Arts was my answer.
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