As he knots his black belt and prepares to compete, senior Elliot Alwes reflects on how his martial arts journey began.

Alwes competes in a variety of martial arts events and has a black belt in Jung-Su and a blue belt in Jiu-Jitsu and was also victorious in the largest martial arts tournament on the East Coast last year, the New York open Jiu-Jitsu tournament.

“At first I was put in to martial arts to instill discipline in me,” Alwes said. “But later on it was out of my own desire to learn and develop my skills as a martial artist.”

With 10 years of previous experience, Alwes has been able to achieve high belt ranks and win high-profile contests. He began with different forms of martial arts and eventually learned new ones.

“Early on I did Korean Jung-Su and wrestling then later learned Muay Thai and kick boxing,” Alwes said. “I finally settled on Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and Judo in the last two years.”

Due to its variety of forms, martial arts is open to various competitors. The broad range of martial arts from kick boxing to judo to Jiu-Jitsu allows for this.

“I love the all size fits all capacity of martial arts because anybody can learn it,” Alwes said. “Everyone can contour martial arts to their liking and there is no optimal size or shape.”

All types of martial arts are typically known to be productive in enhancing things such as confidence and discipline.

“One of my favorite things about martial arts is its remarkable ability to crush anyone’s ego,” Alwes said.

Participants in martial arts are relatively small in number currently when compared to participants in sports such as soccer, basketball etc.

“Martial arts is not something that only a select few should be doing,” Alwes said. “It is great for increasing confidence and tenacity and stronger people are more useful to the world.”