I started to learn karate-do when I was 8 years old, and the reason was because I was bullied in the school. I was a fat, smart and kind boy with a rare accent, with no self-stem at all. One afternoon, my father noticed the brushes and signals of a fight, and he asked me what was wrong... he was always travelling, so, I didn't have a close relationship with him. I couldn't tell anything in that moment, but I think that he realized I was in problems with others kids.
The next morning, a Saturday, he told me that he would like to show me something special, a man, a sport Asian man. We were to an old gim, not like a boxing gim, but with the same environment. A group of men dressed in white pyjamas were doing some class of fight, not Greek, some different, more complex. It was the first time I saw a class of Judo. I never forgot those white, rude suits and the black belts.
I knew in that moment, that my like will change for ever.
