AMMON, Idaho (KIFI) – Confidence can be difficult to build, but within the walls of Southwick Black Belt Academy, it blossoms. Much of that is thanks to Grandmaster Scott Southwick.
Southwick was recently promoted to Grandmaster, or 8th-degree black belt title. This rank recognizes dedication to not just years in martial arts, but also teaching the next generation about leadership, discipline and self-worth.
“Martial arts is about growth,” Grandmaster Southwick says, “Leaders are both born and made.”
His journey to become a leader started 40 years ago in Ammon.
As a young boy, Southwick was bullied. He says, “I was walking to school, and… one of the kids I’d walk to school with was disabled, and the older kids would make fun of him. And then they’d beat me up.”
All that changed when he stepped onto the mat. Through martial arts, Southwick gained strength emotionally and physically. He says, “Amazingly, the more my confidence grew, the less people picked on me.”
Now, he’s passing that same transformation to his students, helping them grow as confident leaders themselves. Traxton Hansen, a student at Southwick Black Belt Academy, says, “Everything that I’ve learned and become as a leader came from training here and learning how to live my life with intention in the same way that we train with intention.”
It’s that intention that Southwick hopes will propel his students forward in martial arts, life and in the way they view themselves. “Our job is to bring out and get you on your path, bring out your integrity and empower you to be not afraid, you know, not afraid of who you are and what you can become,” Southwick says.
It seems as though that mission is paying off.
“He taught me that I can win and that I can be exactly who I want to be and that I can believe in myself,” Hansen says, “And that was something no one had ever said to me before in all my life.”
Aislyn McLeod, another student at Southwick Black Belt Academy, says, “I really want to make it to the highest level I can possibly go.”
