By BRYNNA WILLIAMSON/ Managing editor
Bethina Nunn’s hobbies include drawing, painting, singing, volunteering and beating people up.
“I know at least five ways to kill and incapacitate a person off the top of my head,” she jokes with a smile.
Except Nunn isn’t joking.
The UT Tyler student is a 12-year student and recent black belt in Shotokan karate, a form of martial arts referred to as “handless” because it mostly uses fists and kicks rather than weapons.
“[In Shotokan], you are the weapon,” she says.
Despite describing herself as “a very short woman” with not “a lot of muscle on me” and as “very unassuming,” Nunn is now an instructor at Kickin’ Karate, a small dojo in Tyler.
THE BEGINNING
Nunn – who also goes by the first name Jade – began her journey at the age of 9 or 10, when her younger sister Sapphire wanted to start taking karate lessons.
“My younger sister ended up liking it, and so she wanted to do it – she was 5 – and therefore, that means I have to do it too,” Nunn says with a smile.
Although she was originally curious about martial arts, she was “very hesitant” to begin and not “necessarily a go-getter for what I want, at the time.”
“I [was] a kid, and, I mean, you don’t want to get hurt. Like, you think it’s gonna hurt, and, you know what? It eventually, it does. … [but] eventually I grew to really enjoy and understand,” she says. As someone hovering at around 5 feet tall, with long black hair and a kind face, sometimes Nunn felt that in her first impression she was missing a crucial avenue to prove her strength. However, when Nunn realized that martial arts could be just such an avenue, she began to dig deeper into her studies.
“Sometimes, it felt like, I don’t know, like I needed to prove myself. And I wanted that strength to back
me up, so to speak,” she says.
Now, however, martial arts has become much more for her.“It is partially a lifestyle that you can’t really outgrow,” she says. “You’re always training, you’re always trying to become better, more efficient with your movements, quicker, faster or more flexible.”
OBSTACLES
Nunn been studying martial arts at Kickin’ Karate for several years when the Recession of 2008 hit the United States and her dad lost his job.
“We didn’t really have all that much money,” Nunn says. “Like we were, you know, we were tight on money. My mom didn’t work at that time yet – she was mostly taking care of my sister and I.”
But when Nunn and her family were about to quit because of their financial issues, Kickin’ Karate Head Sensei Kyle Keller approached the family and told them to “pay what you can” and not quit.
“[He} didn’t want me to stop because of financial issues,” Nunn says with a shrug. “So, every couple of months, maybe we would give him a payment, like for the two of us for the month. Or the past couple of months.”
Keller is very straightforward about why he said what he did.
“[The sisters] were super talented as kids, I love them both dearly, you know, I looked at all my students as family,” he says. “I didn’t want to see someone quit due to something so stupid, when I don’t do it for the money.”
Enabled by this kindness, the sisters stayed on at the dojo.
“So, they took a few years off of paying me and everything, and kept training hard and doing good, and now she’s one of my best instructors I have,” he says.
Nunn smiles wistfully.
“It was really something that I appreciate, even now,” she says, speaking thoughtfully. “Because I wouldn’t – I don’t think I would be here, like I wouldn’t be a martial artist at this standing, at this time, if it probably wasn’t for that.
TRAINING OTHERS
Nunn takes special pride in being able to teach kids and other women at the same dojo she learned in.
“Really, I just really enjoyed just learning it, and later on, whenever I learned the importance of being able to defend yourself, [it was even better],” she says. “Especially in a world where it’s full of danger, and you don’t know what to expect, it just kind of gave me a sense that this is something that I should learn and that I should pass on to others.”
In fact, Nunn has personally trained the son of one of her sensei’s.
“My son is 14, and he started when he was 9 or 10 years old,” says Jeremy Mullens, Rinshi Sensei (or “second-in-command”) at Kickin’ Karate. “He learned by watching Jade and the upper belts in the class. … Jade helped instruct him on Katas [a choreographed series of set karate moves] and things of that nature. You know, it was a chance for me to bond with my children.”
TODAY
Although Mullens says that it has taken Nunn “a long time” both to “develop the confidence in herself” and to achieve her black belt, he also says that the time she took to be perfect paid off in the end.
“She just wanted to have [her skills] perfect,” Mullens says. “She’s a black belt, and it takes some people a lot longer to get there than it does others, depending on how dedicated they actually are to learning what they need to learn, and honing the craft, so to speak. … you definitely have to put the time in to do it and do it correctly.”
Now that she has these skills, Nunn is constantly on the lookout for situations where she would need to use them. As a woman who often travels alone to and from her classes at the University of Texas at Tyler, she is especially vigilant.
“In everyday life, I am very cautious. Especially at night if I’m out alone,” she says. “I will always be listening for footsteps behind me, checking the shadows, [I] glance behind me every now and then, before I even enter the car, I look in the backseat to see if there’s any signs of break-in or to see if there’s anybody in there.”
In a situation where she might need to use martial arts, Nunn says you “can’t freeze.”
“You have to think on your feet, you have to go, go, go,” she says.
Her voice turns even more serious.
“If they are attempting to take your life, then at that point, you use any means necessary to defend yourself and get out of there alive,” she says. “It’s pretty violent and bloody, but sometimes you have to do what you have to do. If it’s your life versus theirs, you have to make that choice.”
THE FUTURE
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Nunn’s dojo was unable to continue classes. Since then, it has been “on break” with classes being more sporadic than in their pre-pandemic days.
Now, Nunn is hoping to “get back into teaching.”
She also intends to continue studying and bettering herself.
“I still have, I think, a long ways to go, and because it’s, like I said, a lifestyle, you don’t really ever stop improving yourself,” she says.
And, thanks to her sister’s desire for karate lessons all those years ago, Nunn has the ability to pursue these goals today.
Nunn smiles.
“And now, I’m the one who has a black belt and she’s currently – she stopped a few years ago to continue with tennis,” she says.
She laughs.
“Funny how the world works, right?
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