In the mass of the best karate fighters from around the world met together in the World Tang Soo Do Association World Tournament in Florida, our very own Junior Max Bushnell fought and placed third after facing 20 people.
It wasn’t by any coincidence that he found himself there, he has been training for over seven years and has accomplished the ranking of first degree black belt and achieved personal growth.
“I was really weak before I started, I was a cry baby, and now I’m strong,” Max said. “I wanted to learn how to fight. I stopped crying, and grew more confident.”
Competing in the sport fills him with nerves, but his experience in karate has shown him ways to expel his fear.
He says that during competition, “I used to be nervous, but I’ve figured out ways to not be nervous — instead of getting nervous, I get angry.”
To build his confidence, Max likes to visualize his path to victory, often imagining himself as the best in the world.
“I always go in knowing I’m going to win,” he said. “Even though I don’t sometimes, I still visualize that I’m going to win.”
Even in defeat, Max is humble and is ready to learn, with his only loss in the tournament coming to his teammate.
“The one I lost was with someone that goes to the same studio I go to and it was notable because whenever we spar or in competition sometimes I win and sometimes he wins and that day he went harder and he beat me kicking me out the air,” Max said.
If he were to explore other martial arts, he says that kickboxing is what caught his eye.
“I’ve actually done kickboxing, Muay Thai, BJJ, but I want to go into that later down the line,” Max said. “I feel like I could do good in kickboxing, our (karate) sparring is like that.”
Max’s future in karate is still a question, whether he’s going to change sports or continue to grow karate.
“I did wanna open up my own studio but I kind of steered away from that because masters can’t compete and I want to compete,” he said. “I think I just wanna get my third degree and I’m good with that, then venture into other martial arts.”
