WOOSTER – Chuck Murzda was disappointed that the World Jidokwan Taekwondo Federation did not require him to test his eighth degree black belt.
“I tested all the time up to level seven,” said Murzda. “This time they said they researched me and said my reputation precedes mine, so I don’t need to test. We’ll just promote you, they say.”
For someone who has worked hard for everything he has achieved, said Murzda, he did not expect an easy path to his final achievement in taekwondo.
Dog shelter gets help: Residents raise nearly $3,000 in two fundraisers for Wayne County Dog Shelter
However, he trained hard in Korean martial arts for more than 40 years to reach such a high level, and the 58-year-old said it would take about nine more years to earn his ninth title status.
Not bad for someone who was usually the smallest kid in his class growing up in Youngstown, graduating high school at 5 feet, 2 inches, and 110 pounds.
Murzda said he entered taekwondo at the age of 15 because he was bullied and needed to protect himself. He didn’t grow much after high school, hitting 5-4 at one time, and is now 5-3.
Since her family didn’t have much money, Murzda said she had to walk a few miles after school to attend taekwondo school and a few more miles to continue club gymnastics, which she says she started when she was 12 because it was the only sport where her size wasn’t. big factor.
Then he had to walk to his home in a loud neighborhood late at night, recalls Murzda.
“You start fighting to avoid bullying and when you start winning fights you become a target and people want to beat you,” said Murzda, who later added shaking her head: “I was annoyed that I had to fight in high school.”
Bureau of Motor Vehicles BMV Wooster office ‘temporarily closed’
When he taught his students at the martial arts academy in Wooster how to fight, he didn’t want them to fight.
“There’s more to martial arts than fighting,” he said. “There’s discipline, patience, persistence, respect and the drive to get past what you think you can do.
“There’s a lot of mentality in martial arts,” he added. “These are the things you really learn with the art of marriage – figuring out what you’re capable of, what kind of person you are.”
