First, let's start off with Drew, who is now a new Purple Belt:
Yes, he's very proud, and he should be. It was the first testing that he was no longer a Tiny Tiger, and had to do the full form. I know that SW is not 100% strict, especially at his age, with having it precise, but let me tell you, he had it more precise than most of the kids in his group, and many of them were several ranks above him! He goofed up but would quickly correct himself, and he didn't get upset once about the moments he'd goof up. But the moments that he had the form down pat-- oh, he shined. He really has beautiful technique. Even parts where he really should be using two handed techniques he was where the others weren't. I was really proud of him. He did wonderfully. Same with his freestyle. It was creative alright, but instead of just flopping around and waving the BME around, he actually had some kicks and real moves in there, even if it wasn't the "freestyle" form that the instructors were teaching. Again, he had beautiful technique. I really think all of this is finally starting to click with him. Same with sparring as well. He was making sure of doing "no contact" sparring, and at the end he just stopped because he was tired, but that's okay. What he did do was good.
As for me, this was an important midterm, as there are about 12 of them, and 3 of them count for points, and if you don't have enough points, then you don't get promoted to the next rank (as in 2BD). This was the first one that "counts". I was very happy to hear that I didn't have to spar since I was board breaking. Hooray! My form went okay. A fellow adult student, KB, mentioned that I had some really high kicks tonight. I told her that I saved them for graduation so as not to mess up my knee too much. ;-) I felt like I was almost blanking out at times while doing the form, I've done it so many times, but I didn't and there was no-- or very little-- loss of continuity, or at least I covered it up well. I was told by others that I did well with it. Tonight I also had my last time of having to do SJB for testing! Hooray! I had to do a freestyle, and in my freestyle, quite often I would not catch my SJB to do the move I wanted to do. But tonight, I did, and I heard a "Whoa, that was cool!" from the peanut gallery, and I think it was some of the adults, especially a 2nd degree or two. ;-) I pulled it off, and that's what matters. It's done! It's over! No more SJB until 2nd degree! Then, I had to break boards. I had it set up right, that I know. It was all me. I was still doing the side kick and round kick with my left foot, and front kick with my right. Now, you have up to three tries to get the job done. On my first try, I got the round kick and the front kick. On the second try, I got the side kick. That was better than when I tested for 1BD! The side kick was because I was having problems with feeling comfortable with distancing. But, in the end, I didn't get a bad score, I'm sure, and I passed, and that's what counts. I don't have another midterm for points for a while. (It's numbers 3, 6 and 11 that count towards rank, and naturally #12 is the big jump to 2BD.)
So, it was a successful night overall. The next cycle should be interesting. Drew is taking a short break, and will be going to TKD boot camp during the first week of July, and receiving a crash course of the summer's curriculum, in which we will receive his blue belt at the testing at the end of the week. At that point, he'll take the rest of the summer off from classes, and start up again in September. Being a blue belt, he'll be halfway through his curriculum towards his 1BD, so perhaps this time next year he'll be getting that. That will be exciting. Part of me wishes that he'd take a little time off again, so that we could time it so that he takes his 1 BD and I take my 2 BD at the same time, but I don't think that'll happen. Oh well. And during the summer, since I have to work and can't go to boot camp, I'll be continuing classes as usual. At least with the hot weather, everyday is T-shirt day, so that will help!
Onwards to the boot camp and that graduation...
