By LESLEY GRAHAM
Michael Stankiewicz and Miles O’Hara, both 4th graders at Ocean City Intermediate School, recently accomplished quite the feat–earning their black belts in karate at just nine years old.
Both Michael and Miles study at Master Straga’s Tang Too Do Academy in Pleasantville where they took part in a test to procure their black belts.
The first part was karate specific, testing the athletes moves, knowledge and technique. The second part was the challenge which puts the participants through rigorous physical demands such as knuckle pushups, sit ups, lunges and so forth in repetitions of 100-200.
The challenge was meant to test their strength, determination, and maturity to handle difficult situations.
The boys completed each section to achieve their black belt.
Michael, who is also an avid baseball player, left before the ceremony to honor his accomplishment, so that he could get to his baseball tournament to help support his team, the NJ Sand Sharks.
He is a catcher on the team was able to make the second game of the tournament and help secure a victory, albeit exhausted yet invigorated from his black belt challenge.
When asked if he was nervous for the challenge, Michael replied in typical nine-year-old fashion, “Yeah but it was awesome.”
His mother, Lora Fenstermacher, was beaming with pride for her son, as she too is avid participant in karate, holding a third degree black belt herself.
“I am so proud of him. We knew karate would be good for him because it teaches discipline and respect,” Fenstermacher said in a phone interview.
Miles, who celebrated his 10th birthday Sept. 30, has been studying karate in since September of 2015.
He said he was also nervous for the test, but afterward, he was excited and exhausted.
“The hardest part for me was completing 100 knuckle-pushups,” Miles said in an interview.
Miles’s father, Pat O’Hara, said he was extremely proud of his son.
“He worked hard and dedicated a lot of his time for a little over five years to get here and it takes a lot of mental toughness to complete the black belt challenge,” Pat O’Hara said.
Although the O’Hara’s didn’t have the same karate family tradition as Michael and his mother, they also felt the discipline and feeling of accomplishment has been monumental for Miles.
“A lot of times after a long day at school, going to karate for a few hours was the last thing he wanted to do, but his spirit always uplifted after walking in the building and accomplishing what he did,” O’Hara said of his son.
Both Michael and Miles have earned some much deserved time off, but neither one is interested.
The boys are looking forward to continuing their karate journey as they work towards their next degree in black belt, which is a multi-year study.
