My goal was to join a taekwondo class for 3 months and attend classes 3 days a week. My primary purpose for selecting this experience was to learn self defense and secondary purpose was to do exercise and physical activity.

LO2 – Demonstrate that challenges have been undertaken, developing new skills in the process

This experience was a challenge because I had never learnt martial arts before. They focused of different types of training like stamina, strength, flexibility, etc. Since I generally like to stay at home and not do physical activities, this experience allowed me to take my fitness as a challenge on work on it. I was able to overcome this challenge as I was learning with peers and as the trainers were very approachable. Learning martial arts was a new experience, of which I overcame the challenge by asking my peers questions and asking the trainer for feedback. The fight classes were particularly challenging because it is ingrained in me not to get physically aggressive. However, with the encouragement of the trainer, I was able to become less hesitant during fight classes and understand that it was a learning experience for all.

LO4 – Show commitment to and perseverance in CAS experiences

This experience required perseverance as I had the set the goal to attend taekwondo classes for a long period of time that is three months. I was able to persevere relatively easily as I had previous CAS experiences in commiting and persevering in a task. Through repeated practice of this perseverance skills, I was mostly able to meet my goal. However, due to falling sick, I had to miss the classes for two weeks, otherwise I was able to meet my goal.

LO6 – Demonstrate engagement with issues of global significance

The global issue that I engaged with through this experience was of safety. Unfortunately, lack of safety has become a global issue with crime rates on the high. In this experience, in addition to teaching us martial arts, we were taught specific techniques to protect ourselves. We were also informed about an initiative they were taking on self-defense, which we were invited to participate in. This made me aware of how prevalent the issue of safety is and what I can do to fight this issue.

LO7 – Recognize and consider the ethics of choices and actions

The ethics involved in this experience was not to use the techniques we learnt to harm others, but to protect ourselves. I agreed with this before and after the experience and understood the importance of ethically using such type of knowledge.

The learner attribute that I learnt in this experience was balanced as I was able to work on my physical health along with my academics and mental health.