At the age of twelve, Joey was a shy boy who preferred doing things alone rather than interacting with others. His parents were very concerned about their only child. He was growing up so quickly, but without the social skills that would be so important for him when he entered high school and college.

They tried almost everything that they could think of to get him interested in meeting other kids and spending time with them. But nothing seemed to work. Until one day, when his mom came across an ad in the yellow pages about self defense classes. Although she knew very little about the martial arts, she decided to investigate and learn whether these classes would be the answer to helping her son overcome his shyness and develop a more outgoing personality. After enduring two disastrous telephone calls, she finally contacted Master Carter’s Tae Kwon Do Academy. Once she talked to Master Carter and understood his philosophies about how the martial arts could significantly benefit her son, she and her husband decided that Tae Kwon Do classes were the key to helping Joey get on the right path to becoming a self confident adult.

Although the idea of learning Tae Kwon Do - coupled with his first few lessons, including his first sparring class - initially both thrilled and frightened Joey, after watching the brown and black belts, he made a pact with himself to stick with it. Some day he wanted to be that good. And with each passing class, he found that he began to more and more enjoy his self defense lessons, pouring himself completely into his training. Eventually, as a direct result of this training, he began to feel better about himself and more comfortable interacting with other kids, making new friends along the way.

Quite unexpectedly, Joey suddenly found a source of strength and encouragement from his Tae Kwon Do instructors and classmates – especially from Master Ron Carter, affectionately known within the martial arts community as “Tae Kwon Do Man”. Much to his surprise, his classmates, including the higher ranking kids, all welcomed him with open arms. And as for Master Carter, from the time Joey took his first class, he felt a special bond with “Tae Kwon Do Man”. It initially began as a kind of idolatry, or hero worship of his instructor, whose physical skills and capabilities left Joey completely awestruck. However, this bond continued to blossom and grow into the type of relationship in which Joey began seeing his instructor as an advisor, or sounding board, to discuss various issues happening in his life. Master Carter became like a second, or surrogate, father to Joey. In addition to talking to his parents, he would often come and seek out his instructor’s opinion in times when he needed an adult’s perspective.

However, the most significant keys and influences to helping Joey to grow and mature into a well-adjusted young man came from receiving constant support from those around him. From his parents who, knowing the types of challenges that he would face as an adult, were determined to prepare him to be able to handle himself. They knew that if they allowed him to remain a withdrawn, shy child who preferred staying inside and being alone, Joey would be ill prepared for the future. And from his best friend Alex, who had agreed to take Tae Kwon Do classes along with Joey. As far back as Joey could remember, Alex was always in his corner rooting for Joey to succeed while also challenging him to try new things.

Throughout his teenage years, Joey gradually changed from a quiet introvert, with little social or physical skills, into a gregarious, athletic young man. His secret – his martial arts classes. By the time Joey entered high school, his years in Tae Kwon Do began to have a profound influence in his overall development and specifically in nurturing his self confidence – in particular throughout his last three years at Smithton Community High School.

By his sophomore year in high school, Joey decided to tryout for the school football team – a monumental leap of faith from the time only a couple of years earlier when Joey shunned the idea of playing in any type of team sport, preferring either solitude or hanging out with Alex, instead of being around other kids and participating in any kind of physical activity. As a junior, with four years studying Tae Kwon Do under his belt, Joey’s hard work and the positive influence he received from his martial arts training resulted in his selection to the National Honor Society, after being a regular on the school honor roll since he was a freshman, followed within a few short months by the realization of a dream come true – earning his promotion to the prestigious level of black belt in Tae Kwon Do. In his senior year, Joey’s football prowess excelled beyond everyone’s expectations and he had his best, most productive season yet. Reaching the pinnacle of his football career, he was named to the first team all conference defensive squad, becoming a local Smithton celebrity – a highly touted student athlete. And to what did Joey attribute his athletic success? Other than to his teammates unselfishness dedication to working together, and, of course, to the never wavering love and support from his mother and father, Joey believed his incredible accomplishment was directly due to his five plus years of training in Tae Kwon Do and to Master Ron “Tae Kwon Do Man” Carter, whose influence had taught him so much more than simply how to protect himself.

His outstanding senior season subsequently led to a full athletic scholarship to Texas Southern University.