Watch out for that girl! She may not strike you as any danger with her charming ways and sweet smile, but sophomore Rebecca Scarce is actually a karate student of ten years, being enrolled at Jeff McGregor’s American Karate since age five.

“My dad talked to Jeff (the instructor) and just took me one day to try it, and I loved it,” says Scarce. “I have danced since I was three, and I was never a girly ballet girl. Like I liked it, but didn’t love it.  And karate was so the opposite, I just clung to it.” Scarce now continues to pursue both dance and karate, attending karate lessons every Thursday. She has earned her second degree black belt and aims to earn her third degree black belt next year.

Scarce has attended countless tournaments in the past, but recently has only been attending one each year, Jeff’s Tournament.  She has won numerous awards, ranging from standard 6-inch trophies to two plaques for placing second in all of Virginia state. Regardless of her long list of awards, Scarce’s personal favorite reward is simply how far she has come.

The most difficult part about karate for Scarce is the cotta.

“It’s like a bunch of choreographed moves you have to learn to rank up. The one I have to learn now is 200 moves. They’re not made up by the instructor though, I don’t know where they come from,” says Scarce. So far she has learned fifteen different cotta routines and has used them to compete in past tournaments.

For those wanting to pursue karate, Scarce encourages that “you never give up, no matter how hard it gets.” Who knows? Maybe after 10 years of practice you too could be a karate kid.