CENTENNIAL, Colo. — Don't mess around with Nick Hansen. The 18-year-old, who has Down syndrome, just earned his black belt at Kicks Martial Arts after training for over two years.
His goal to earn a black belt started as a project during the beginning of the pandemic. Nick had started watching videos of Karate and Taekwondo on YouTube and wanted to learn himself.
"We found a martial arts studio just down the street, and they were so wonderful and accepting of Nick and his special chromosome," said Babette Hansen, his mother. "He was able to do everything that a typical kid does to earn his black belt."
Nick earned his black belt last Saturday.
"I feel happy, joy and confident," Nick said when talking about his accomplishment.
As part of his training, Nick is also part of the splits club, which mean he can do a full center splits. He also wants to teach at Kicks Martial Arts, so he tried out some of his teaching skills on Denver7's Danny New. Check it out in the video below.