Thursday July 9, 2009

AUGUSTA, GA--Sometimes you hear about people watching an old movie and taking up a sport because of it, but here's living proof of an Augustan, doing just that and becoming a big time success.

His name is Darin Prazer, fourth degree black belt and world champion, fulfilling a lifelong dream.

"At first it was still settling in with me, I actually was tearing up a little bit because it was a long term goal. that I've been working for and I know that it means a lot. But any goal means a lot when you finally achieve it." said Darin Prazer

Prazer won the title last month as part of the American Taekwondo Association or ATA, where only the top 10 in each class get invited to compete. He was relying on others to tell him where he stood during the tournament.

"I was so nervous getting up there and doing it that I didn't listen to the scores, I didn't know where I was placed. Friends in the audience, family, my wife, everyone over there is going you're number one, number one at the moment. As soon as the last person went, it hit me, I was like OK, I did this." added Prazer

Now 31, Prazer started at the age of 13 thanks to a friend taking him to a class. He was hooked early and hasn't looked back. He's now an instructor and helping others overcome hurdles they may face.

"It felt good because I didn't get a lot of appreciation as a kid growing up with my own family. These parents love what I do with these kids, and that's where my passion started I think, was getting the appreciation from those parents."

Prazer and his wife opened up this taekwondo academy in Evans. He loves it and has plans for a second school, hopefully next year. He also loves seeing what kids and adults can accomplish with the help of the sport.

"I've said to many people plenty of times is that I can do anything. I feel that I'm capable of doing any kind of job but this is the mos rewarding job. Even the school teachers, they only have them for the school year, but we keep students for many years and it's really neat to see that people can really accomplish a lot. Not just in the martial arts, but out there, grades in school, and everything. It's good to hear about how excited the parents are about them accomplishing their goals." added Prazer

Now if you're wondering the difference between karate and taekwondo, it's pretty simple. Taekwondo is more Korean based, karate, Japanese. They are very similar but it's more in the teaching.