My Mentor Research Paper

An ally is someone who helps you or inspires you. Allies are important because without them,
you probably would not be where you are now. For 8 years I did competitive martial arts. I spent a lot of time
from age 5 to age 13 training. I started Competing at age 7 and was training to be a world champion martial
artist. I had a shot at the Olympics in 2020 as well as the World Championships in Italy in 2018. Now, I am
talking about my accomplishments but what I should be talking about is how I got here. I never would have
made it that far without my coach, Ciprian. (Pronounced “Chip-ree-on”) Ciprian is my ally because he helped
me in sports, in my health, and helped me build my confidence.

To become the best in your sport, you need to train like the best. Ciprian is an immigrant from Romania, he came from a poor family, living in poverty and without much food. He was on the Romanian National Karate Team. I am honored to have worked with such a talented athlete. I spent hours a day after school training; becoming a better fighter. Ciprian would take hours out of his day to help me improve. Sometimes it was 5 to 8 in the morning, other days was until late at night. He sacrificed his time to help me and the other athletes on the team. Most importantly, he believed in me.

I cannot say always in the best shape; I was not eating healthy.

This was clearly showing in my performance. I would come to trainings with low energy or just look exhausted. Ciprian sat down with me and talked to me about how I was eating. I would eat a big, unhealthy breakfast, sugary snacks throughout the day, skip lunch, then eat a semi-healthy dinner. This was not good for how much I was training. I need to be putting in as many calories as I was burning at training, and healthy calories. I started eating healthier, this instantly had a positive impact in my

training.

I was smaller than most of my competitors. When you are 5’0 fighting a girl who is 5’9, you instantly become the underdog. They are bigger than you taller, stronger. There is simply no way you could win- or at least that’s what I thought. My coach believed in me, he’d say, “Sure, they’re bigger and taller, but you’re faster and smaller”. This boosted my confidence in my fighting immensely.