Cheyenne Leasure, senior, started karate when she was 12 years old and has been doing karate for 5 ½ years, during that time she has become a black belt candidate.

Karate is an independent sport that can help you learn how to defend yourself.

“On my 12th birthday my dad let me take karate so that I could learn to defend myself when something does happen,” Leasure said

There are many martial art schools all over Columbia, Missouri.

“I go to Rifkin Professional Karate Center,” Leasure stated

In karate you learn more than just how to defend yourself you also learn the culture of karate.

“Some of the first things that I learned when I first started doing karate was learning to respect the instructors, the studio, and the other students, another thing that I learned was the terms that they would be using,” Leasure said

There were many types of sports that Leasure tried, when she tried karate she realized that she loved it.

“I have tried all different types of sports, but I was never really good at them,” Leisure said. “I first tried soccer, then I tried basketball, that’s when I tried karate.”

Leasure said she likes doing karate, but said she doesn’t know if she wants to continue doing karate after she graduates high school. 

“After I graduate high school, I may continue to do karate. It really depends if I go to college here in Columbia or if I go to college in another state and if my instructor continues doing the online zoom classes,” Leasure said.

Sam Diaz is a friend that has seen Leasure do karate personally.

“I think that Cheyenne is great at karate and is awesome,” Diaz said.

Karate is a sport that you need to work with others to work on the stuff that you are learning.

“Cheyenne is a great person to work with, because she gives you pointers on what you need to improve on,” Diaz said.

Leasure on Saturdays goes to karate class to help teach the lower belts.

“Yes, I think that Cheyenne is a good helper because when someone that has a lower belt needs help with their katas or their kicks she makes sure that they understand the concept of what to do and that they do well,” Diaz said.

In karate you have to learn to control the amount of power you have especially when that person is smaller than you.

“She works really well with anyone if they need her help,” Diaz said. “I have known Cheyenne for a year and she has helped me out a lot.” 

Cheyenne has worked hard to get to where she is at today said Diaz.

 “Yes I do think she has gotten far, because of how hard she works,” Diaz said.

Maddison Wilson is a friend and she is almost the same belt as Cheyenne.

“I think that she makes a big impact on a lot of people and her being happy makes me happy,” said Wilson.

Leasure has worked with a lot of different people in karate Wilson being one of them.

“I do like working with her because she will encourage me to keep going when I’m starting to struggle,” Wilson said. “I have known Cheyenne for 7 years.”

There are different people that do karate so you may need to be careful with how you are working with someone who is smaller than you.

“She works well with others, helps people inside and outside of class, respects others and is also really patient,” Wilson said.

There are many people that go to Rifkin Professional Karate Center to learn karate and she goes there and the amount of people that she knows have seen how far she has gotten.

“I think that she has come far during karate physically and socially. She does very well and hardly has any trouble with the techniques that we learn, she also has a lot of fire and snap,” Wilson said.