| In the 80's I was a short, skinny eight-year | | | | considered a career in Occupational |
| old. You know the type. Always picked on but | | | | TherapyFinally, one day at a party, I asked |
| never picked for the team. When I started | | | | someone who I knew had studied the martial |
| high school, things didn't get much better. | | | | arts, whether they could recommend a good |
| We had just moved to central New Jersey and I | | | | school. That person recommended "Stephen's |
| was the new kid on the block with no friends. | | | | Karate and Fitness Center" in Boca Raton. |
| My grades dipped. My guidance counselor | | | | |
| thought I was so weird that he measured my | | | | I tried a few classes and loved it. It was a |
| head. In those days, they had never heard of | | | | workout I had never experienced. In my teens |
| Attention Deficit Disorder or ADD. | | | | years, I had lifted weights but found that |
| | | | boring. At Stephen's Karate, I learned a |
| Because of my disability I attended classes | | | | unique style of mixed martial arts that |
| with no more than six students. These | | | | combines traditional Tae Kwon Do with boxing. |
| "special classes" helped me get through high | | | | |
| school but I still had trouble focusing. I | | | | There was also the exposure to the group |
| didn't make the baseball team because of | | | | dynamic that I enjoyed. As I slowly but |
| this. I felt I lacked something internally, | | | | surely moved up through the ranks, my |
| even though I managed to get my driver's | | | | instructor Barry Stephen asked me if I wanted |
| license which increased my social | | | | to become an assistant instructor. I said yes |
| opportunities. Whey my family moved to South | | | | without hesitation. At the time I was a red |
| Florida in 1992, I was ready for a new life. | | | | belt, which in our school, is half-way to |
| I was able to get into a college, but was | | | | black belt. |
| still having trouble focusing and studying. I | | | | |