The once-shy girl becomes head coach (standing) of 30 Karate-Do students at the Provincial Ethnic Boarding High School. Photo: NVCC
Crossing the pass, bowing to the master
In grade 8, Ho Thi Xa was timid and withdrawn. After class, Co Tu girl in A Roang Commune (A Luoi) only hung about the house; the farthest place for Xa then was the times when she followed her mother to the mountain field.
Perhaps Xa's life just drifted quietly in a narrow, boring space, without the Karate-Do class enrollment flyer by Nghia Dung Karate-Do stuck at the school gate.
At home, it is thought that when her parents disagreed, the shy girl's thirst for learning martial art would cool; on the contrary, the more her parents refused, the more Xa begged. The reason why her parents refused was that it is 7-8 km from A Roang, Xa’s house to A Dot, martial art teaching place; the practice time was in the evening, so her senescent parents could not drop off or pick up her; it was dangerous for her to go alone.
About more than a month later, seeing that her younger sister stayed sad and still reminded her of learning martial art, loving her younger sister, Xa’s elder sister "risked” taking Xa to register, and then returned home to ask for the parents’ agreement. "My parents scolded us, but what’s done was done; they finally agreed about my younger sister’s learning martial art,” Xa laughed.
Ho Thi Xa is assessed as gifted in both boxing and resistance. Photo: NVCC
After getting her parents’ permission to learn Karate-Do, without a bicycle, Xa had to walk about 15km of the pass path alone for 2 turns from the house to the training ground and vice versa, from Monday to Saturday each week. “The hardest was the 2km-high pass section on the path to martial art class. On the days of rain and wind, I cried while walking because of fatigue, fear and even self-pity. But even at such times, I never had the thought of dropping out,” recalled Xa.
The reason Xa did not drop out is that "apart from learning martial art, I and my friends were also taught by Mr. Ho Van Cuong about life skills, manners, handling situations, self-improve morality, mutual affection… And after a short time of attending Karate-Do class by Mr. Cuong, I myself was more active, more energetic and receptive to more useful knowledge," said Xa.
I didn’t know where the story about Xa started from. Xa’s passion and energy for Karate-Do suddenly spread throughout A Roang, A Dot and A Luoi. “Besides being A Roang's first ethnic girl to learn Karate-Do, Ho Thi Xa's story about walking for learning martial art has become a motivation for more and more young people in A Luoi to start learning Karate-Do," said master Ho Van Cuong.
Repaying the debt of affection
After finishing the lower secondary school… in 2016, Ho Thi Xa reached Hue to continue her study at the Provincial Ethnic Boarding High School. Having just come to Hue, Xa contacted and asked to practice at the Karate Club under Nghia Dung Karate-Do at Hai Ba Trung Upper Secondary School. However, even though she no longer had to walk, Xa once more continued to face difficulties.
“Training time at the club was from 17-19h while the Provincial Ethnic Boarding High School was closed every 19h - 19:30. The way to school was long; my motorbike broke down on the way many times, and I had no mobile phone to report, so my name was often noted down in the order and discipline notebook. Each time, I was punished by working about the school. Fortunately, the security guards sympathized, so even though noting down my name, they never closed the door lest I had to sleep in the street,” said Xa.
Finishing the upper secondary school in 2018, Xa became a student of Phu Xuan University, Faculty of Foreign Languages, majoring in Chinese and trained at the Karate-Do Club at university and at Martial Art Ancestors’ Residence at 8 Truong Dinh Street.
During training here, the instruction and support of VND 1.5 million per month by Mr. Nguyen Dung Minh - lecturer of Phu Xuan University and head coach of Nghia Dung Karate-Do in Hue helped Ho Thi Xa exhibit her potential in this martial art more and more clearly
“Inside Xa, there arediligence and energy, not everyone has. Whenever Xa trains, I feel as though she always tries her hardest to overcome her limit. This basic factor combined with the available aptitude enables her to compete well in both boxing and resistance. If properly invested like professional athletes, Xa can be qualified to win medals in the national competitions,” said Mr. Nguyen Dung Minh.
Perhaps, the professional judgment from head coach of Nghia Dung Karate-Do in Hue is not far off. However, Xa does not think that she will follow the path of a professional athlete because she has a dream of becoming a tour guide after graduating from university. With the first-level black belt, Xa is currently busy as an assistant coach at the Karate-Do Club at Phu Xuan University and more importantly, for 30 "juniors" at the Provincial Ethnic Boarding High School.
“In 2019 summer, master Dung Minh founded the Karate-Do Club for free at the Provincial Ethnic Boarding High School and appointed Xa as head coach. Apart from the opportunity to continue to cultivate and practice martial art - morality, the club aims to enable my friends to better understand life skills, ways to handle situations, improve morality... For my part, the position of coach will help me convey and spread what is good and right I learnt from Nghia Dung Karate-Do. And that is also a way for me to repay what the masters have been giving me,” shared Ho Thi Xa.
By Han Đang