When I was a child in the 80’s, my parents had a satellite the size of a car in our front yard. We could pick up TV from China, seriously, old black and white Chinese martial arts films. This was my first exposure to the fighting arts and I became obsessed with it.

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My childhood was hard. Although I had loving parents, I developed extremely low self-esteem. Due to social awkwardness I was unable to keep friendships, I felt lonely and Isolated. I had a audio processing disability and struggled to keep any of my grades up. I convinced myself that I was stupid and destined to live a life of poverty. By 4th grade I was unhealthy, overweight, with full-blown acne. Bullying became a daily normality for me, both physical and emotional. I tried taking my own life by swallowing a bottle of pills in junior high. I felt ugly and unlikeable….. That is until I walked into my first Karate class.

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After 11 years of begging, my mom finally agreed to let me train. At fifteen, I walked into my first class in a Goju Ryu Dojo in the middle of Kansas. I can still remember the nervous anticipation in the pit of my stomach. My dad watched as I took the mat. I’m sure he was proud, after all, every dad wants their little girl to be able to defend themselves. I was hooked after my first punch and began training over 10 hours a week. With a new found passion other areas of my life began to improve. My grades went up, I made friends, I developed a deep feeling of self-worth, and I became a powerhouse in every area of my life. 

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My Sensei was, and still is, an old school Vietnam vet and direct black belt under Peter Urban, the founder of American Goju-Ryu. The training was hardcore, two hours a night, 3-4 nights a week. Our uniforms were expected to be clean and starched every class, the slightest variation from laser focused training resulted in pushups, or worse, an ass-chewing. Forgetting one’s belt… more pushups, like, 300 pushups. We would spend entire classes  perfecting our front stances as we moved up and down the floor. Sparring nights were full contact, continuous sparing,  and we didn’t even wear helmets back then.

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I was blessed, my Sensei was a Team USA coach as well. I learned from the best of the best. After 10 years of training, I was eligible to begin training for black belt. Since then I have progressed to a Master rank (5th degree) and have also earned a 2nd degree black belt in Kosho Kempo. As of today, I have been in the martial arts for 26 years.

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I’ve been able to represent Team USA in the World Congress of Martial Arts, received the Woman’s Warrior Achievement award from Soke Michael Depasquale’s Martial Art’s University, and have competed in countless tournaments and have won numerous metals and trophies. Tripple crowning at two national tournaments. However, what I value the most are all the memories and friendships that were created along the way.

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I’ve had the opportunity to travel all over the U.S. to teach, speak, train and meet incredible martial artists from all kinds of styles. Today, I continue to learn by expanding my knowledge in many styles. My mission is to take the tools for a dynamic life that I learned in the martial arts and spread them to as many people as possible so they can live excellent lives.

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Join me in this journey.

Master Beck Crisci