{"id":8632,"date":"2016-08-24T21:04:17","date_gmt":"2016-08-24T21:04:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/idsunmedia.com\/?p=8632"},"modified":"2016-08-24T21:04:17","modified_gmt":"2016-08-24T21:04:17","slug":"martial-arts-black-belt-evan-telford","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/2016\/08\/24\/martial-arts-black-belt-evan-telford\/","title":{"rendered":"Martial Arts Black Belt Evan Telford"},"content":{"rendered":"

Always Finish What You Start<\/h2>\n
\"Wood
Wood River High School senior Evan Telford practices a kick. Photo courtesy of Evan Telford<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Wood River High School senior Evan Telford, carrying a 4.0 grade point average and a member of National Honor Society, is devoting his life to fitness and peak human performance.<\/p>\n

Mainly, this is showcased through Evan\u2019s devotion to 11 years to martial arts, but can also be seen in his love of skiing and lacrosse. At Wood River, Evan is also a member of the Dixie Band and the Jazz Band, playing tenor saxophone.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been active my whole life,\u201d Evan said. \u201cA few years ago I really started getting serious about it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Today, he is a 3rd-degree black belt in the Korean martial art Soo Bahk Do under the tutelage of Oliver Whitcomb.<\/p>\n

A remark made while in a pre-test for a 2nd-degree black belt encouraged him. The instructor told him he had to go \u2018Rocky Balboa\u2019 if he wanted to take it to the next level.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had no idea who that was,\u201d Evan said with a laugh. \u201cSo I went back home and watched \u2018Rocky\u2019 for the first time. It was the coolest thing ever and very motivating. This was three years ago and ever since that\u2019s how I\u2019ve been.\u201d<\/p>\n

In four years Evan will be able to test for a 4th-degree black belt, with an 8 level being the highest. He began his training in first grade.<\/p>\n

\u201cI absolutely hated soccer and my mom felt I needed something to do,\u201d he said. \u201cI was six and a friend was doing it so I went to a class and it just clicked.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been amazing training with Oliver. He is the most intimidating person I\u2019ve ever met, but his influence has been unbelievable. It\u2019s funny because he\u2019s made so many people cry \u2013 including little kids. Countless times he left me bawling in the car after class, but I\u2019m proud that I never quit and kept coming back. He has told me that once you get your first black belt, that\u2019s when it gets serious.<\/p>\n

Evan\u2019s favorite story happened when he was 5 years old.<\/p>\n

\u201cOliver really clocked me in the side of the head around the time of my first black belt. He did it in front of the entire class and I was totally humiliated. It was intentional \u2013 to trigger my emotions. He said it was a commitment test and a lot of people would have been done, but I\u2019m thankful he hit me that night.\u201d<\/p>\n

Evan said that because of this, he feels he can \u201cdeal with a lot of things in life.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve learned so much and it\u2019s so practical. It\u2019s the one thing you can do in life that makes everything better \u2013 like stretching, breathing, focusing, discipline and meditation. Also, always finish what you start. That could be anything \u2013 homework or school. Stick with it and get the job done and don\u2019t flake out. It\u2019s a blessing if you can do it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Editor\u2019s note<\/i><\/b>: Anyone who would like to recommend a Blaine County School District student for The Weekly Sun\u2019s \u201cStudent Spotlight\u201d feature should contact Jonathan Kane at jkjonkane@gmail.com.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Always Finish What You Start Wood River High School senior Evan Telford, carrying a 4.0 grade point average and a member of National Honor Society, is devoting his life to fitness and peak human performance. Mainly, this is showcased through Evan\u2019s devotion to 11 years to martial arts, but can also be seen in his […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8633,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","_pvb_checkbox_block_on_post":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[32,38,41],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-8632","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-schools","8":"category-sponsored","9":"category-student-spotlight"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8632","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8632"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8632\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8633"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8632"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8632"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8632"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}