today i said the words out loud… in a complete phrase…for the very first time

today i said the words out loud… in a complete phrase…for the very first time

“my name is chastity, and i am a mixed martial arts photographer”

holy heckarooskies!!! what the………..

you would think that, considering i’ve been doing this for some time now, i should have said that phrase at least 200 dozen times. but nope.. i haven’t.  in fact i rarely do…. today was the VERY FIRST TIME that i said it, in that form. and i said those words to probably the most important group of people i will ever have the chance to meet… i said them to ….

junior high school kids

a couple of months ago i was asked by Mike Burke to speak to some of his students at a local junior high school. what i failed to understand at the time was… this was going to be a VERY BIG DEAL TO ME. i will have met with over 100 students over the course of this day, speaking for a total of over 2 hours, and it was a time for me to share with them what it took to get to where i am. by no means am i a famous, world renowned artist….yet…:)  but rather…i spoke to them, grounded, as someone who lived in their town, someone who was real, not untouchable, with  a heart and courage as big as a boulder. i spoke to them simply as me. and it was great !!! 

i got to display the photos that hang on the walls in my own house. i got to show them the 2 slideshows on a huge projection screen that we created for our TSMMA warriors. and the best part… i got to bring our very own Joshu Stephen Regman with 3 of his title belts!! they went crazy for him!

mike and the school staff thanked us endlessly for coming out to support the community and talking to the kids. but what they all don’t realize is that WE are indebted to them. this was more beneficial to me than it was for the school. i got to share my love. i got to hopefully influence a child’s life. i hope i was able to inspire them to dream big! they got to see Joshu – a true champ. they got to hear what it took to be a dedicated champion in and out of the ring. we both echoed each other about the importance of focus, determination, discipline and a non-quitting spirit.  we spoke about the importance of education and dreaming big. we spoke about why we do what we do… in it’s very simplest form.. because it makes us HAPPY…

i want to give a huge thank you to mike burke and the hubabrd school staff for welcoming us they way that they did.

i want to give a great thanks to sensei holland for sitting with me for an hour yesterday and helping me think through what we needed to chat about…

mega thanks to sensei querido… he started this whole mma photo taking thing!!! 🙂

i owe endless thanks to Joshu Stephen Regman for taking the time out of his very busy training schedule, even though he is preparing for a month of upcoming back to back fights.  Thank you Joshu.. sincerely and truly.

but i owe the biggest thanks to the hubbard junior high school kids for giving me the opportunity to meet with them today, share my journey and giving me their undivided attention and respect.