I went to karate classes where it was basically a line-up of hulking man, hulking man, small nine-year-old girl, hulking man, hulking man.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
I think I only went to college because it was close to the karate school.
I did karate for years and years and years.
I'm a black belt in karate. I grew up on the outskirts of Paris, and it was rough.
I had a bit of a martial arts background from when I was a teenager: I did a bit of karate.
I grew up in Westlake Villiage, a suburb of L.A. There was a guy there who was a fighter and was like, 'I'll teach you to box.' I started a little bit of boxing, then it crossed over into jiu-jitsu. I was into it for a little while, but then I started doing basketball, baseball, team sports.
I did martial arts and karate for eight years when I was growing up.
I was a wrestler. I played football, lacrosse. After high school, I got into jujitsu. I boxed my whole adult life.
In high school, during lunchtime I would go in the room where the wrestling mats were and try different flips and different moves. Like windmills. I just started mixing martial arts with jazz and contemporary stuff and it would get mashed together and became my style.
I wasn't always the most fashionable, and I would come to school with cauliflower ear and ringworm. I got made fun of a lot. People called me 'Miss Man' and 'Guns,' and people directed a lot of karate jokes at me. I wish that I was at school now that MMA and martial arts is cool, but back when I was in school, people associated it with nerdy stuff.
I had a classic gym teacher in junior high who wore a weightlifter's belt all the time.