Rian Lita
Final Capstone Reflection
Introduction:
I am a lifelong martial arts fan and I am a martial artist in the field of Taekwondo. I’ve always
wanted to try all the different styles of Martial arts such as Judo, Karate, Kickboxing and etc so
thought of comparing an assorted bunch of martial arts and compare them in self defence
scenarios. That was the original plan but since the school changed to a quarter system, I only
had roughly around 4 weeks that was supposed to be a whole year of time to work on it. Since I
was a black belt in Taekwondo it was easiest for me to showcase taekwondo first even though
the other martial art schools haven’t contacted me yet.
What I learned:
When we went to film and sparred I noticed that traditional self defence moves from
Taekwondo were significantly harder to perform since my partner wasn’t standing still for me to
execute the moves on but he was moving unpredictably making me second guess myself and
anticipate. When I started using the sparring side of Taekwondo I had little no trouble counter
attacking and sliding out of the way. Taekwondo’s sparring techniques worked very well and
provided me with the necessary skills to evade and counter since Olympic Taekwondo is built
on counter kicks and footwork. From that day I felt more confident in defending myself since
after learning that Taekwondo made me comfortable with dodging with all the training I received.
How Does my Project Relate to me:
This project was a mix of fun and stress. The stressful part was that I only had roughly a month
to work on the project but it was also fun since my knowledge of martial arts were tested and so
was my skills in Taekwondo. I have been Training Taekwondo for almost 3 years and only
during this project I got to use my skills since I’ve never really sparred with anyone. I managed
to defend myself with all I’ve learned over the years and proved that Taekwondo can be used
for self defense. My project can be shown to others and give them a good impression of
Taekwondo and making it a formidable martial art to use for self defense.
Using Core Competencies to complete my project:
I had to use creative thinking to truly showcase Taekwondo in a self defense scenario by
sparring in 3 different rounds which varied in difficulty to simulate the different types of attackers
who would try to hurt you
Critical thinking was important because I had to make sure everything I talked about made
sense and to be clear on what I was explaining while narrating over the many details of the
video.
I had to be personally aware to talk about Taekwondo because I am a black belt and be
confident in what I am talking about because I really have been doing martial arts for years now.
Social Responsibility was something I showed when I started the draft proposal since no one
martial art can be better than one or the other. I never said anything that degraded a martial art
or said one was better since it all depends on the martial artist
I had to use communication since I had to explain to my sparring partner how I want to
showcase Taekwondo and as well as communicating through my video how the sparring is
going to go with all the information I was explaining.
Capstone Impact:
Doing my Capstone project did not impact me greatly but I just thought it was a mix of fun and
stress. I am partly grateful for the stress because it is a good reminder to always stay on top of
things and to stay on track. I would say I am warmed up in terms of workload so I’ll be ready for
next semester.
What was I most proud of:
I was most proud of successfully creating a different way of showcasing a martial art in terms of
self defense. I showed taekwondo in both self defense techniques and sparring techniques in 3
rounds that varied in difficulty.
A problem I encountered:
I originally wanted to showcase 5 different martial arts such as Judo, Kickboxing and etc but due
to the time restriction I could only do 2 or 3 max. I reached out to different schools and martial
arts but none of them contacted me back so I had to work with what I could which was
showcasing Taekwondo instead.
Advice to others:
I would advise others to work off of something you are passionate about or a project you have
been working on for a long time such as a novel or research. Doing something your passionate
about makes the workload so much easier since it is something you enjoy and something that
you don’t view as just another homework/project.
Sources that helped me:
I was a lifelong fan of fighting and martial arts and I have watched countless fights from movies,
boxing, mma and kickboxing through the years. I have also watched breakdowns of the world's
strongest and genius fighters and studied them as much as I could. I also watched many martial
arts movies and although they are a bit unrealistic. All of the knowledge from combat sports I
have studied and gathered throughout my life has helped me for this capstone project
