TKD has definitely been on the brain in the last couple of days, even if I haven't been to class since graduation. I think it's because I see this next cycle as being rather critical, basically due to the regional tournament in late July. This is going to be the first big tournament of the "new" year. (The ATA World Championship is this coming weekend, I believe.) Anyhow, while I'm far from World Class level (I'd have to be REALLY good and attend a LOT of tournaments nationally, which I'm not going to be doing), I do want to have a kick-butt ranking on a state level. After going into leadership and attending my first big tournament, I ended up ranked 3rd in Weapons. Not too shabby. I'd like to rank in all formats, and at least be in 2nd place. Heck, I might even be first if the current #1 happens to age out, but I don't know her exact age, and she might rank out (she was a brown belt in April, so during this year she'd have to be getting her black belt). I think this is my last year of being in color belt, as I might be a black belt by this time next year, so I have to kick butt as this is my last chance. After that, I might have a chance, as I don't think there will necessarily be any other 30-something 1st degrees the following year. But I could be wrong. It wouldn't be the first time I was wrong. ;-)
Related to that, I was thinking about how I can make improvements for the next tournament. I think I need to talk to Ma'am about it a little, when she's in an open and good mood, if she has any suggestions of extra stretching or weight training that I can do that will truly be affective in improving my performance. I started to work out a little on my Total Gym yesterday while Drew and JC went out biking. I think I have to figure out, however, which exercises are optimal for me and what I'm trying to achieve. I was even looking at several books on TKD while on my date with JC (yes, we went to Barnes & Noble and went out separate ways-- some date!), and did find one book that looks good, but I'm hesitant to buy it when I can probably just ask and adapt. Y'know?
Also in interesting reading this past weekend was out of the ATA World magazine was how Chuck Norris actually got his start in the military learning his martial arts from the ATA's Eternal Grand Master Lee. Sweet! I'm sure he's making the rounds in all the martial arts arenas to promote his World Combat League, but still...it was interesting reading. It lead me to look at the WCL website as well as his personal website. I think that what he tries to promote overall is fairly universal to all martial arts, and for that matter, life in general. I can go for that. This isn't to say that I'm a Chuck Norris fan now, but if my son were to pick him as a "hero", he would be making a pretty good choice, and I wouldn't object.
Many TKD reflections, but I think instead of thinking, I need to start doing. I'm just not exactly sure of where to start.
Monday, June 12, 2006
Wednesday, June 07, 2006
Purple Haze
Tonight was graduation/testing night. I don't think I was totally nervous, but perhaps nervous in a different way. On one hand, I figured, well, if I don't know this form now, I'll never know it. This'll probably be as good as it gets. On the other hand, I felt kind of just numb about the whole thing. I had done it once for my husband before I left. Of course, he doesn't know what he's looking at, so he thought it was pretty good. I think I was more concerned about doing my weapon, the ssang-jeh-bang. I had practiced a few times today, and got some sort of a rhythm going. It wasn't what I wanted, but I figured it was acceptable. The problem wasn't only that I didn't exactly have a completely worked out routine, but also there is a difference when you are practicing in shorts and a T-shirt vs. your heavyweight uniform. Oh, and I'm overly right handed almost to a fault. Well, at least I didn't drop the dang thing like Malachi did at least two or three times (shows what happens when you try to show off too much!). So I practiced a few times before things got started, and just figured I'd do my best.
It was a big group, but maybe because I'm used to doing this, and it wasn't as crowded as other times, it seemed to go fairly quickly. I did my form with two other adult color belts and weapons with just one of them. I did mess up slightly in the form but quickly corrected it. I remembered it all, and I tried to make sure I did my stances correctly when I remembered. It was not my best effort, but all things considered, I think I did okay. Weapons were a joke to me, but later an adult black belt came up to me and exclaimed that I had done really well. I was surprised at that, because I really had winged it to a certain degree. OK, I did follow a form shown to us more or less, made some variations such as doing a simple changeover instead of a triangle changeover, but it got the job done in the time alloted, which allowed me to get other moves I wanted into the routine. I need work on this weapon, but at least I got through. I also need to practice more with my left hand. My figure eights with my left hand were atrocious, and that's what really slowed me down and made it look sloppy. Hey, 'ya gotta give me credit for doing weapons as color belts are not required to do weapons during testing, but it's optional, and I have gone for it ever since I got mine (as a yellow belt). I know of kids who are 3 ranks ahead of me who still won't do weapons at testing. I figure, a) it helps me get used to doing them, and b) helps prepare me for tournaments as well. After all, in the end, I'm not #3 in the state for nothing! Sparring went fine. I had to spar Evelyn, and I don't think she was totally up for it. She got a few good hits in, but I think I was the more aggressive one. She kept backing up and backing up until she was almost at the wall. Hopefully that was seen as a positive, as Michelle was the one who evaluated me for that rather than Ma'am. Ma'am started this thing with the last testing that she would judge the forms and weapons, and when you are done, you go on the back mat to do your sparring with someone in your group. This is done so we aren't there all night. Seems to work to me. I think some people take their time getting their gear on after forms and weapons, however, and that slows things up a bit. But I got it done and out of the way, so that was it. Ma'am seemed fairly cheery when she gave me my belt, which was cool. Mr. Uhl got his 2nd degree belt tonight, which was cool. He did a beautiful board break combination, for sure. BAM! BAM! BAM! That quick through double boards too. Sweet.
Ma'am did tell us that it was too bad that Dr. Albani didn't do his creative weapons routine at the adult session and had done it at the session before with the kids, as it was very memorable. She said that the music he chose was "Be a Dentist" from Little Shop of Horrors, and he had the teeth on the end of his weapons. You see, he IS a dentist, hence the further amusement of us all. She said it was lost on the kids, but our group would've appreciated it. I know I definitely would have!
So, time to move forward again. I have the DVD and the directions for my next form. Again, it's the next one in the series, and it's about 2 belts above what I should be doing at my newly attained rank. This next form is important as it's what I'll be doing at the tournament, more than likely, so I will have to see. It didn't look too difficult, but to be at competition level, I'll have to learn it fast and WELL. I asked Ma'am what the next weapon was, and she asked me if I would ask her again when she wasn't so tired and could think, which was not a problem. I'm hoping it's the bahng-mah-ee again, since I do well with that. Perhaps it might even be doubling up on that, we'll see. But I got through tonight fine.
Oh, and as a side note, Em and Pen were really sweet. You'll have to read the posting on my regular journal for the details, but at the ATA picnic, Drew helped push Pen through a long gravel path when she needed an extra boost, being that she's wheelchair bound, and I had helped Emily. The girls had befriended Drew, and he warmed up to them and they nicknamed him "Bulldozer" as a result. Drew has enjoyed that nickname ever since, and tonight, since his birthday was two days ago, sent me home with a birthday present from the both of them, being a Tonka bulldozer toy and a book about Tonka bulldozers. I let him get out of bed so that he could open it and see it. He was happy about getting the gift, and appreciated the whole gesture, the reinforcement of his "bulldozer" status. That was awfully nice of them. Drew has some big friends now. :-)
Onward and upward now....
It was a big group, but maybe because I'm used to doing this, and it wasn't as crowded as other times, it seemed to go fairly quickly. I did my form with two other adult color belts and weapons with just one of them. I did mess up slightly in the form but quickly corrected it. I remembered it all, and I tried to make sure I did my stances correctly when I remembered. It was not my best effort, but all things considered, I think I did okay. Weapons were a joke to me, but later an adult black belt came up to me and exclaimed that I had done really well. I was surprised at that, because I really had winged it to a certain degree. OK, I did follow a form shown to us more or less, made some variations such as doing a simple changeover instead of a triangle changeover, but it got the job done in the time alloted, which allowed me to get other moves I wanted into the routine. I need work on this weapon, but at least I got through. I also need to practice more with my left hand. My figure eights with my left hand were atrocious, and that's what really slowed me down and made it look sloppy. Hey, 'ya gotta give me credit for doing weapons as color belts are not required to do weapons during testing, but it's optional, and I have gone for it ever since I got mine (as a yellow belt). I know of kids who are 3 ranks ahead of me who still won't do weapons at testing. I figure, a) it helps me get used to doing them, and b) helps prepare me for tournaments as well. After all, in the end, I'm not #3 in the state for nothing! Sparring went fine. I had to spar Evelyn, and I don't think she was totally up for it. She got a few good hits in, but I think I was the more aggressive one. She kept backing up and backing up until she was almost at the wall. Hopefully that was seen as a positive, as Michelle was the one who evaluated me for that rather than Ma'am. Ma'am started this thing with the last testing that she would judge the forms and weapons, and when you are done, you go on the back mat to do your sparring with someone in your group. This is done so we aren't there all night. Seems to work to me. I think some people take their time getting their gear on after forms and weapons, however, and that slows things up a bit. But I got it done and out of the way, so that was it. Ma'am seemed fairly cheery when she gave me my belt, which was cool. Mr. Uhl got his 2nd degree belt tonight, which was cool. He did a beautiful board break combination, for sure. BAM! BAM! BAM! That quick through double boards too. Sweet.
Ma'am did tell us that it was too bad that Dr. Albani didn't do his creative weapons routine at the adult session and had done it at the session before with the kids, as it was very memorable. She said that the music he chose was "Be a Dentist" from Little Shop of Horrors, and he had the teeth on the end of his weapons. You see, he IS a dentist, hence the further amusement of us all. She said it was lost on the kids, but our group would've appreciated it. I know I definitely would have!
So, time to move forward again. I have the DVD and the directions for my next form. Again, it's the next one in the series, and it's about 2 belts above what I should be doing at my newly attained rank. This next form is important as it's what I'll be doing at the tournament, more than likely, so I will have to see. It didn't look too difficult, but to be at competition level, I'll have to learn it fast and WELL. I asked Ma'am what the next weapon was, and she asked me if I would ask her again when she wasn't so tired and could think, which was not a problem. I'm hoping it's the bahng-mah-ee again, since I do well with that. Perhaps it might even be doubling up on that, we'll see. But I got through tonight fine.
Oh, and as a side note, Em and Pen were really sweet. You'll have to read the posting on my regular journal for the details, but at the ATA picnic, Drew helped push Pen through a long gravel path when she needed an extra boost, being that she's wheelchair bound, and I had helped Emily. The girls had befriended Drew, and he warmed up to them and they nicknamed him "Bulldozer" as a result. Drew has enjoyed that nickname ever since, and tonight, since his birthday was two days ago, sent me home with a birthday present from the both of them, being a Tonka bulldozer toy and a book about Tonka bulldozers. I let him get out of bed so that he could open it and see it. He was happy about getting the gift, and appreciated the whole gesture, the reinforcement of his "bulldozer" status. That was awfully nice of them. Drew has some big friends now. :-)
Onward and upward now....
Friday, June 02, 2006
Another Graduation/testing practice
Tonight's class was fairly uneventful for the most part. Friday night classes follow ATA Extreme classes, and with the exception of Mr. A, is comprised mostly of the higher ranking (and more capable) teen leaders of the school. It's kinda fun to watch them. And they are really put through it by Mr. Lee, who is an ATA Extreme teacher. He's very nice, kinda cute, but very tough. I have a hard enough time when he's taught regular classes. The last time I took one of his classes, I couldn't move the next day, and I was coughing up a storm due to my asthma being agitated THAT much. But Mr. A took over the class tonight, so it wasn't too bad. I forgot part of my form, or just blanked out for a minute, but I'm sure I'll be fine by Wednesday. I was supposed to practice ssang-jeh-bahng for graduation, but I just skipped it. I did help to hold boards for those who have to break for graduation. I'm not sure if with purple or blue belt if I have to start breaking for graduation/testing or not. If it's a front kick with my plastic board, that's a cinch. That's the one break I can do with my eyes closed. :-) The others need work, but they are coming along. I was looking at part of the Brown Belt form that we'll be doing for the next cycle, and it shows that you have to break, and you have to do either a elbow and front kick break, or an elbow and side kick break. That's an easy one to figure out-- option #1, of course! I wonder if you get more credit doing the other one though? I guess I'll find out when I get to that level for sure. It's very confusing when you are doing forms that are 2 levels ahead of where you actually are, that's for sure!
Anyway, I digress. Sparring is fine. One 9 year old whom I had to spar tries to hard, if that makes sense. He's too concerned about trying to do the fancy reverse spin kick that I bop him in the side or chest in the meantime and can kick him in the head (figuratively speaking) a few times. He's a higher rank than me, so despite my size, he should be able to figuratively beat me to a pulp. From my experience in tournament sparring, you have to just go for it. The judges aren't impressed by fancy kicks or form in how you do it. As long as you make a legal hit, that's all that counts. I held my own just doing a lot of round kicks and side kicks and flat out punches against 2nd degrees just doing that. Granted, I think my repetoire is getting better with some repeat kicks and crescent kicks. I don't have the speed to do spin kicks, and I know it. But this kid has to get that kick. I always notice that he's too caught up in the details sometimes. It's good to pay attention to them, but really. If you don't move up right away, it's not the end of the world. But then again, to a nine year old, it might be THAT important to him. He's also of Indian descent, and not to make an ethnic slur, because this isn't, but Indians tend to have a tendency to feel they have to do everything the best and perfectly, that there's a cultural pressure to have to be the best. I have a LOT of Indian neighbors, and they admit this themselves. I wouldn't be surprised if he had some pressure from the outside as well. Poor kid.
Oh well. Hopefully the rain will let up for us to go have our TKD picnic and watergun fight tomorrow. We'll see. It should be fun should it go through.
Anyway, I digress. Sparring is fine. One 9 year old whom I had to spar tries to hard, if that makes sense. He's too concerned about trying to do the fancy reverse spin kick that I bop him in the side or chest in the meantime and can kick him in the head (figuratively speaking) a few times. He's a higher rank than me, so despite my size, he should be able to figuratively beat me to a pulp. From my experience in tournament sparring, you have to just go for it. The judges aren't impressed by fancy kicks or form in how you do it. As long as you make a legal hit, that's all that counts. I held my own just doing a lot of round kicks and side kicks and flat out punches against 2nd degrees just doing that. Granted, I think my repetoire is getting better with some repeat kicks and crescent kicks. I don't have the speed to do spin kicks, and I know it. But this kid has to get that kick. I always notice that he's too caught up in the details sometimes. It's good to pay attention to them, but really. If you don't move up right away, it's not the end of the world. But then again, to a nine year old, it might be THAT important to him. He's also of Indian descent, and not to make an ethnic slur, because this isn't, but Indians tend to have a tendency to feel they have to do everything the best and perfectly, that there's a cultural pressure to have to be the best. I have a LOT of Indian neighbors, and they admit this themselves. I wouldn't be surprised if he had some pressure from the outside as well. Poor kid.
Oh well. Hopefully the rain will let up for us to go have our TKD picnic and watergun fight tomorrow. We'll see. It should be fun should it go through.
Thursday, June 01, 2006
Back to Sweating again
Tonight, it was back to business as usual. We started out doing some corner exercises, which weren't too bad. I guess Michelle was feeling like going easy on us. Then we reviewed our form. That went fine overall. It's tough when a) you are the only girl in the class, and b) not only the only girl, but the only one over the age of 25 taking the class. I take that back. Pen was in class too, but she's an orange belt and not working on the same material as I am with a bunch of teenage boys. It wasn't too bad. We did a quick practice graduation, and I goofed up as I was doing it slowly with Matthew (one of the Downs boys), but that was okay. I also goofed up on weapons, so I really need to practice that big time. Broke the board, helped to hold boards, sparred, etc. Nothing especially noteworthy. I do have to say, however, that Em is starting to bother me a bit. She is assisting in the teaching, not teaching. Now granted, she has a lot of experience and probably knows forms better than most people. Throw on top of that that she has CP, so she even knows adaptations due to her being either in a walker or wheelchair all the time. But as Ma'am has mentioned to me, for a woman in her early 20s, she's EXTREMELY immature. And consequently, she really doesn't know how to be an assistant or teacher (of course, that's why she's still a trainee). The first problem is she's a little TOO serious with this. I'd say about 99% of us that attend this school attend for the enjoyment of the sport and the process of learning. While there is certainly some discipline and rule following involved, there's a fine line between being a true teacher, and being a drill sergeant, and a mean one at that. Em doesn't know the difference. Even I could see that was the difference between Michelle-- who is younger than Em and is a certified teacher, and Em. When someone wasn't doing what they were supposed to, Michelle merely corrected them and moved on. Michelle wouldn't interfere with an instructor trainee helping a student unless she was supplementing what the trainee was telling the student. However, tonight I saw Greg Spina helping a student with the corner exercises, and ZOOM! Squeak Squeak Squeak! You hear Em racing across the mats with her walker to interject and puts her 4 cents in (which is twice of two cents) in and take over. I'm sorry-- no, you don't do that to a person. How is Greg supposed to learn how to direct someone if someone is butting in like Em was and taking over? And believe me, Greg is perfectly capable of helping a student (he's helped me plenty of times). The other thing is that Em will bark out orders without making kindly directions first. To be more exact, Em seems to be failing to understand the fine line between being strict and respect for your students. I'm sorry, but she might be the instructor trainee for my class, she might be a 2nd degree black belt, but dammit, I will NOT be bossed around like I'm some West Point plebe by a kid who is 18 years younger than me. I have absolutely no problem with the young instructors who are even younger than Em because they know how to keep control of a class and command respect by equally paying respect to the student. Even with the malicious Malachi who needs a heavy hand, I've never seen anyone get tough with him unless it was REALLY necessary. He doesn't need too much to get him to comply, and Em is barking out orders to all of us when it's only one who isn't complying, you know what I mean? I'm tempted to say something to Ma'am about it. I feel uncomfortable saying something to her, but then again, I think Em would take the criticism more seriously from Ma'am than she would from me.
I did get the next DVD for the form for next cycle. It's for the brown belt level, which for those who don't know for our form of TKD, it's up there-- after brown, it's red, black belt recommended, then black. Oh boy. I mean, I have done the last two forms that were brown, in fact, I'm doing the one before it right now. But this is WAY up compared to where I've been. I haven't done the camo or green belt forms yet, and yet I'm about to be a purple belt and have already done that form-- been there, done that. And this brown belt form is the one that I have to do for tournament in July. Crap. Well, I guess I have a lot of work ahead of me.
As I was leaving tonight, Ma'am told me two things. First, she had talked to Mr. Bassett, her partner for the Pennington ATA, and it's a matter of them getting their stuff together and then figuring out when we can all get together to discuss stuff, so it sounds like things are moving along. The other thing, that made me feel good, was that she told me to say a big hi to Drew for her. I hadn't realized that she actually hasn't seen him for a while, so I think she does miss him, for better or worse. She'll still see plenty of him on Saturday at the ATA picnic. I think that him having a break is going to be good, and even Ma'am says that she'd take a break if she could, but it's literally her business so she can't. Oh well.
I did get the next DVD for the form for next cycle. It's for the brown belt level, which for those who don't know for our form of TKD, it's up there-- after brown, it's red, black belt recommended, then black. Oh boy. I mean, I have done the last two forms that were brown, in fact, I'm doing the one before it right now. But this is WAY up compared to where I've been. I haven't done the camo or green belt forms yet, and yet I'm about to be a purple belt and have already done that form-- been there, done that. And this brown belt form is the one that I have to do for tournament in July. Crap. Well, I guess I have a lot of work ahead of me.
As I was leaving tonight, Ma'am told me two things. First, she had talked to Mr. Bassett, her partner for the Pennington ATA, and it's a matter of them getting their stuff together and then figuring out when we can all get together to discuss stuff, so it sounds like things are moving along. The other thing, that made me feel good, was that she told me to say a big hi to Drew for her. I hadn't realized that she actually hasn't seen him for a while, so I think she does miss him, for better or worse. She'll still see plenty of him on Saturday at the ATA picnic. I think that him having a break is going to be good, and even Ma'am says that she'd take a break if she could, but it's literally her business so she can't. Oh well.
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