Alyssa Cochnar, Crete resident and co-owner and instructor at Gold Star Martial Arts in Crete and Seward, will be quite busy in these next few weeks. She will be testing for her 6th degree black belt.
Cochnar said martial runs in the family.
“It all started when my brother started doing martial arts,” she said. “Ever since then, each member of the family has gone through some sort of martial arts training.”
Cochnar started at quite a young age.
“I was 3 years old when I first started doing martial arts,” Cochnar said. “I continued to do it throughout high school, and that’s when I knew that martial arts was what I wanted to do with my life.”
Different degrees of belts in martial arts can be earned, with each requiring different skills.
“Most of the belts that you get depend on age and the time you have been doing martial arts,” Cochnar said. “Usually, in order to get your first degree black belt, you need about two and a half years of training. It really does depend on how many years of training you have.”
Cochnar will be testing for her 6th degree black belt in Phoenix on July 29. This will be the first year that the testing is held in Phoenix.
Another thing to add to Cochnar’s long list of accomplishments is being nominated for Instructor of the Year.
The American Taekwondo Association of Martial Arts recently announced 10 instructors, including Cochnar, were nominated for the Instructor of the Year Award.
“There are many different awards for different specialties,” Cochnar said. “As for the selections, the ATA selects certain people that qualify, and then others are nominated by outside individuals. Everyone on the list of nominees are great people and are very passionate about teaching and martial arts.”
Cochnar also said she is very excited to be nominated for the award.
“I’m very honored to be nominated and still very shocked,” Cochnar said. “Being from a smaller area and seeing all of the masters and senior masters that were nominated makes me very pumped to be on this list.”
Even with all of the excitement that will be happening for Cochnar, she is most excited that COVID restrictions are loosened for Gold Star Martial Arts.
“We are finally able to combine our Crete and Seward gyms together again so that we can train for Milford Fun Days and Wilber Czech Days,” Cochnar said. “It’s fun to watch the kids interact again and see friends they haven’t been able to see for awhile. You can tell they definitely missed that.”
