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BKO Kung Fu: How do you find time to practice martial arts so much and still maintain an "A" average in school? Most of my friends have a hard enough time just doing one of them?
Mackensi: My schooling has always been very important to me. My parents and coaches have always stressed school before sports. If my grades started to suffer then I knew I would need to give up my extra activities and devote more time to my studies.
I grew up from an early age with a busy schedule. At one point, I was taking gymnastics, dance, piano and karate; as well as going to public school. I learned to use every minute of spare time wisely. I would work on my homework while in the car on the way to gymnastics or karate. I learned time management and how to be very well organized.
Not to say this didn't have its challenges. I had to make some tough choices along the way. At one point, I was doing competitive gymnastics (thru level 8), competitive sport karate, and competitive dance all at the same time. My gymnastics practices were requiring between 20 - 25 hours per week alone. It was clear that there were not enough hours in the day to do everything. I had to chose just one competitive sport since all three required so much time on their own. Both my parents work full time jobs so home schooling was out of the question. I ultimately chose to continue my passion for martial arts, competitive sport karate and tricking.
The most difficult part of balancing my sport karate competitions with school is the time missed due to travel. Most competitions take place on Friday and Saturday and are on the east coast. I live in California so this means that I miss at least two days of school when I travel to compete. In high school, making up for lost time often requires much more work than would be required if I would have been at school on those days. Some teachers are understanding but others don't understand or support what I do so they treat it like I am on a vacation. If sport karate were a school sport then it would be much easier as my absences would be excused. Overall, it takes a lot of effort to balance my sport with school and maintain high grades.
BKO: What inspires you to continue winning world championship titles after you have won 38?
Mackensi: I currently hold 38 World Championship titles from different circuits across a number of different divisions (Creative Forms, Extreme Forms, Musical Forms, Traditional Forms, Creative Weapons, Extreme Weapons, Musical Weapons, Traditional Weapons, Team Demonstration and Team Synchronized Forms). But I don't compete because of the titles or the trophies. That is not what motivates or inspires me. I compete against the best competition I can find to help push myself to be the best I can possibly be. It is those other competitors who really inspire me to keep competing and pushing my own limits. There are always areas to improve and competition helps me accomplish those goals. The World Championship titles are just a nice byproduct :)
Mackensi: At the end of 2010, at the age of 14, I became the first female to ever land a double corkscrew. It took me almost two years to learn the trick and land it consistently. Because I worked on landing it for so long that meant I had to learn not to become too discouraged and give up along the way. I had to break down my attempts and look for the smaller improvements and use those as victories and accomplishments in order to keep driving me forward to my ultimate goal.
BKO: What does it take to make the National Blackbelt League Hall of Fame at the age of 12? (besides hard work and dedication)
Mackensi: The National Blackbelt League (NBL) Hall of Fame is an award is based on being the competitor with the most number of points in a given NBL conference. I received the award in 2008 and also won 4 NBL Supergrands World Championship titles that same year.
BKO: You have had to deal with some injuries along the way. Can you tell our readers about them and how you were able to progress during that time frame despite them?
Mackensi: I have been pretty lucky as far as serious injuries go. I have broken my wrist (gymnastics injury), broken my 5th metatarsal bone in my foot, pulled muscles, bruised bones and have had many different bumps and bruises along the way. It is all part of the sport and I have learned to deal with a certain level of aches and pains. I train through most of it and adapt my training to deal with any specific injury. For example, when I broke the bone in my foot, I still practiced and even competed. I adjusted my practices and focused on what I could do, which is still quite a lot. I feel it is important to keep the same training schedule as before the injury even if the training itself is modified. Skipping practices is a habit I don't want to create.
BKO: What has been your biggest rewards from your training?
BKO: Tell us something about yourself most people don't know.
Mackensi: Aside from martial arts tricks I could already do from practicing gymnastics (flash kick...), the 540 kick was the first trick I learned. It took me a few days to learn it and I was 8 years old. Also, I eat carrots at every tournament before I compete.
BKO: What are you looking to accomplish after you finish school?
Mackensi: After I finish high school, I plan on going to college. I would also like to move to LA while I am still young and continue to pursue entertainment opportunities. I also plan to continue tricking, competing, traveling and teaching seminars.
To find out more about Mackensi Emory visit, http://www.mackensiemory.com
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