IKS Thoughts: Erica Giovinazzo

Editor's Note: Prior to the 30th anniversary celebration that we had, I asked people to submit to me their thoughts about the school to share with the headmasters. I have gathered these essays and will be adding them to this blog as "IKS Thoughts" over the next several months. Today's submission was made by IKS Black Belt Erica Giovinazzo.



Significant life experiences. We all have them. Those experiences that shape our lives – move us down one path or another. It may not be easy for someone to identify these moments while they are happening, but we all can identify them “when we’re older.” That phrase that we all hear at various points in our childhood and adolescence. We will understand things when we are older. We will appreciate things when we are older. For many things, that is true. My life growing up at the Independent Karate School, however, was an anomaly. It was one of those rare experiences that I realized was significant sooner rather than later. In fact, I remember around the time it happened. I was in high school, and I realized that the IKS, the way of the martial arts, the teachings I was receiving… this was my life. I understood during this time that what I was engaging in was far more significant than just being yet another one of my numerous extra-curricular activities.


Through the patience and kindness of my teachers at the IKS, I came in to the school a shy, young girl and was molded into the outgoing woman I am today. Why did I never smoke? Because my teachers taught me that it was not the right, healthy, or “cool” thing to do. I was respectful and kind to my parents and teachers at school because my teachers taught me why it was important. I gained confidence in teaching because my teachers had faith in me, and guided me to find my “own voice.” I learned how to push myself far beyond the limits of what I deemed possible because Shihan Kittredge believed in me, and brought me to my highest potential. I became efficient and have tried to take challenges with ease because Shihan Nastasia was, to me, a living example of this. I walked away from a potential fight in middle school because I distinctly remembered O-Sensei telling us “fighting was stupid.” I am self-driven because Sensei Pete taught me that it was “better to light a candle than to curse the darkness.” The list of lessons learned and qualities gained is endless.

When I was in high school and college and quite dedicated to what I was learning from Sensei Pete, O-Sensei, and Shihan Nastasia, Shihan Kittredge, and others, I would often write essays about how the teachers at the Independent Karate School had shaped my behavior. I knew that I was confident, passionate, focused, driven, and almost fearless because of what I was taught and how I practiced at the IKS. However, that is really only half of the story. Certainly all of these qualities about myself were ascertained through my upbringing at the IKS. However, it goes deeper than that. Because qualities can change in a person. Someone can lose her confidence, focus, and drive. In fact, I have become comfortable enough with myself to say that at some point in the last ten years I have momentarily lost each one of those qualities. What my teachers gave me in addition to these characteristics were abilities I didn’t truly realize until many years later: to always be true to yourself even if it might mean disappointment, to have compassion and empathy even in madness (in my case, the madness of New York City), and to persevere even after life has knocked you down. This all may sound melodramatic, but it’s the truth. Without the strong, deep, and somewhat hidden foundation that was laid within me by the IKS, I would not be able to deal with the tribulations of life as I am able to. And “now that I am older” I understand this better. I am grateful for the confidence, drive, and passion that the IKS has given me. I am also grateful for them being a constant anchor in my life, and for creating strength deeper than I knew or even expected.
 
2009 marks not only a 30-year anniversary for the Independent Karate School, but also a 20-year anniversary for me as part of its family. I began practicing at the IKS on February 14, 1989, and it was one of the best decisions of my life. And although I’m too far away to regularly practice or teach at the IKS, I know that I still have a family at my home on Lake Street. One that I think about regularly, and teachers to whom I feel forever indebted for having made such an impact on the person that I have become.