Having put so much emotional and physical effort into my black belt testing and interschool tournament, and since there are no classes on Halloween, I felt it was appropriate for me to take a week off from training. I think I earned it! And as I've mentioned, I'm not in a total rush to whip through my 1st degree curriculum as I was to whip through the color belt curriculum.
However, since it was one of the two "dress in your costume" days at TKD, and it was Drew's regular day to go, Drew had class yesterday. He was still a little bit on his high for helping out at the tournament as he had. I was a little pissed at SW, because I asked her if I could put in a star recommendation for Drew based on the fact that he helped as much as he did. She hemmed and hawed, but it came down to her claiming it would set a "precedence" (if I spelled that right), because usually helping out is supposed to be part of the tournament experience. And even at that, she said years ago it would be if they helped out in 10 rings, then they'd get a silver star. Well, Drew helped out with 3 rings, and I don't think we even had 10 rings for the event. I understand her point to a certain degree, but it's not often that a 6 year old Tiny Tiger helps out as well as he does. Almost everyone I know who has a small kid just goes home with their kid as soon as they are done. Drew wanted to stick around and help-- I didn't ask him to do that at all. I even had his Dad come to take him home afterwards when I had to stick around. So, Drew didn't get a star for his efforts. I did reward him with a new Hot Wheels car for his collection for his efforts, so it's not like he went totally without some sort of recognition. But it would've been nice if he had gotten some sort of commendation publically in class or something like that.
Anyway, class was going on as usual yesterday. The kids were getting a little riled up because of their excitement about Halloween. But they learned the first part of their new form, which was pretty easy. I looked at the DVD with the form on it later that night, and elements of it come back pretty quickly. Anyhow, Drew almost got his SJB taken away from him, because he was attacking another kid with it, and wasn't practicing what he was supposed to be doing. Not that the other kid was either. I was a little pissed, because there was SW schmoozing with parents rather than keeping on top of the kids. But I bit my tongue, because I could see what was happening, and I'm not supposed to go and yell at my kid, "Hey, cut that out and focus!" since that's supposed to be the instructor's job. Funny, she wasn't doing her job, and yet I know if had said anything, I'd get the dirty looks from SW to stay out of it. I can't win.
The kids put on their sparring gear. Drew even had his cup on under his one piece costume already! ;-) He was matched up with a boy who did very well at the interschool tournament the other night, and is at least a head taller and a little older than him. J is a fairly gentle, quiet kid. His mother, SV, is in my class, so I know how the family things, and they are a fairly mild mannered family. However, while Drew sometimes doesn't know control, in this case, J didn't remember. Drew does go in full force, but his full force is not as much as J's. And sure enough, it happened for the first time to Drew-- he got kicked in the head. There was no question that contact was made. I saw it, some other parents saw it, the student instructor saw it, and you heard it. JZ, the student instructor acknowledged that there was definitely contact, but she was pretty sure that it was more the shock of it happening that was upsetting Drew than actual injury. Drew was crying big time, so we pulled him out of class. J should have known better, as he's older, and has a higher belt. It wasn't so much that he shouldn't have kicked to the head, it was with the force that he did it. That would be like me kicking the head of an 11 year old. I would still kick an 11 year old in the head, but the point is control so that I don't clobber the kid. J didn't have that. Even Drew said that he felt that J was being too rough, and that HE-- Drew-- was trying to keep control of himself. That was a good thing for him to hear.
I gave Drew two options. I said he can either sit out until they switch partners, so he wouldn't have to spar with J anymore (I think he was afraid of him after that), or he can just sit out completely, but he has to still bow out, etc. He chose the latter, and that was fine. Turns out they only did one round anyway. The kids lined up, bowed out, and they they treated the kids to a piece of candy after class for Halloween. After class, SV came over to check on Drew, so I'm glad she realized that her kid was at fault. After we left, Drew said he had a slight headache, but I'm not sure if it was from the kick or from crying so hard, or just being hungry as it was dinnertime. I assured him that the fact that SV had come over to check on him showed that SHE knew that her son had been too rough, and that knowing her as I do, I was sure that she would talk to J about not being too rough on someone who is a little smaller and younger and a lower color belt than himself. I think Drew felt better about that, but it's one of those reasons that I am glad I'm always nearby in class.
So Drew got his first kick in the head. It's not a pleasant experience for anyone (and yes, even I've been kicked in the head a few times myself), so he'll learn to block, execute the move himself, and focus better on what he's doing. It's a hard lesson to learn. I just feel bad that he had to experience it so soon.
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Friday, October 26, 2007
Just throw me to the lions, why don't 'ya?
When you got to my TKD school, it is not unusual to be thrown to the lions, so to speak, to fend for yourself in a new situation. You won't always be left out to dry for TOO long, but oh, it's really hard. And being that I am a newly minted 1st degree, SW saw it fit, as mentioned in my last post, to do just that tonight.
Tonight we had our first Interschool Tournament for the year. I think it was a fairly decent turnout, considering it was Friday night and all. Normally Drew and I have Cub Scouts on Fridays, but since we didn't have a meeting scheduled for this week, we were able to participate. And participate, we did! It ended up being a very busy night for both of us.
I can't say a lot about Drew, because I was unable to watch his ring. SW had said that she needed to start training some more judges, and now that Sandy and I are black belts, we were being drafted. Sandy didn't come until later (as she had to bring her daughter with her), and Drew's ring and another ring were at the same time. So, since I couldn't do Drew's ring (bias as his mom-- you'd know I'd want to give him a high score!), I was wrangled into being a corner judge - for the first time!-- in a color belt ring that was comprised of Drew's peers. Most of the kids from his classes are a little older than him (by 1-3 years), and as he is not 7 years old yet, and they all are, the requirements are different. Drew, being a Tiny Tiger, only has to learn half the form, and he can have assistance with it from the instructor. WELL, at least according to Drew, he was awesome, and even did a great SJB freestyle. ;-) He was very proud of his 2 medals, and his new red fabric star for his uniform. He told JC (who came in case Drew didn't want to stick around all night waiting for me) that he wanted to stay and help, so Drew asked SW, and she said sure. Now, again, remember, he's only 6. So, they put him to work to be a scorekeeper during the sparring matches. They have flip chart-type things to show the score in the sparring rounds, and his job was to work the flip chart. Sometimes it can go pretty fast and furious, but he was able to keep up, surprisingly enough. In many respects, he was doing a Leadership job, even though he's not in leadership. I'm still not ready to do that. I still don't think he has the maturity for it yet, and I don't have the money for it either. Anyhow, he was really great, and he really enjoyed it. At the end, as they were handing out the medals to the competiting kids, he would help hand out the medals and doing the handshakes. I think he felt very important! :-)
But anyway, I did miss him competing. I'm sure he was fine, but let me tell you, he couldn't be any worse than some of his peers. Some of them definitely knew what they were doing. There were kids that were up there, older than him, who didn't have a clue! And they were competing for a rank placement, vs. Tiny Tigers all get some sort of reward for participating. Oh my gosh. Well, it was difficult enough. I never gave higher than an 8. I kinda kept most of my scores towards the middle. I think the lowest score I gave was a 4, because the kid didn't even know his form. I don't know that he choked from nerves. Our center judge, BP, even got up and ended up doing the whole thing with him. So, I didn't want to give him a zero. You'd really have to screw up to get a zero. Thus, in forms, I was a "hand" judge. Most of the kids were doing the same form as me, so I knew it well. It was truly subjective. The kids who seemed to have a very good sense of what they were doing got the winning ranks, and it showed. During the weapons part, it's all freestyle, so I didn't have to judge just one aspect of it, like "hands". Again, there were kids that did some nice stuff, some that had a clue but it wasn't polished, and then there was the kid who just wagged his BME back and forth for 20 seconds (because that's all you get). He didn't get a big score from me either. Oy. Sparring is where it's interesting. It's very different when you are on the sidelines sizing up the competition, vs. having to actually make the call! It's a lot harder than it looks. Half the time, someone else would call, "BREAK!", but I saw the hit, and I'd be able to make the call anyway. I was advised that when in doubt, either do a "no see" or "no points" if I'm not sure. It was a good competition with that, but again, you could see who was stronger and who wasn't. It was quite the experience.
After judging in that ring, MY ring was up. It was a menagerie of sorts. There were technically 4 different divisions in 1 ring, and even then, they combined us to be 2 rings in one. Three people were white/orange/yellow color belts, but all different ages. The other group was Sandy and myself, same age, same division. The W/O/Ys did pretty well for a first time out in the ring. Only one did weapons, which was good. I was always glad that I had started competing and testing with weapons early on, because now that I HAVE to do weapons, it's second nature. I don't even think about it. But of course, the competition was heated, as usual, with Sandy and I. For either of us, the worst we could do was 2nd place, after all. Nonetheless, I have to say that I really thought that Sandy would have the upper hand in most cases, seeing that she's generally more comfortable with the forms and her weapon form. I lucked out, because since I had just gotten my black belt a mere 2 days ago, I was allowed to do a freestyle. WELL, if that's the case, gotta bring out the award winning routine, even if I haven't dusted that off in 2-3 months! It was a little rusty, but I got about 99% of it out before time was called, and improvised the end. But first, she and I did the same form. Hers did look a lot smoother, there is no question of that, and I figured it might be close. I believe it was a close score - only a difference of 1 or 2 points. Weapons the same, but I didn't do that math that quickly in my head. As I said, I managed well, and I was sure that Sandy would smear me with her weapons finesse. She didn't catch one swing, but it wasn't as major as what ES was doing the other night (not by a longshot!). I think that's what might have been detrimental. Otherwise, it was a flawless routine. Then the sparring. I took the opportunity to break in my new black gear, and as much as I protested to SW that I thought the shin guards were too big, they were actually much better than the old ones I had before, I must admit. It was another really close match. Sandy made me work for those points right up until the end. She's getting faster all the time, and she is a mean puncher and can strike at all the right times, whereas I really depend on my kicks to get me through. Well, the move that did the trick was one of my attempted kicks to the head, my signature "move". Hey, gotta use my height to my advantage when I can, right? Well, this particular kick sailed directly over her head, and the judges called it a 2 pointer to me, as if I had actually made contact with her head. Their reasoning was that even though I hadn't made contact, she didn't make any attempt to block it either, hence the usual 2 points that are usually awarded for head kicks. That's what put me over the top. Otherwise, like I said, she made me work for those points right until the end. In the end, Sandy got 1st for forms, and I got 1st in sparring, as well as in weapons. I wasn't sure about the weapons, so it was a surprise! Later, Sandy was the solo XMA adult. I know she wanted me to do it, but I don't have a routine. I'd be purely improvising, and frankly, since she's a kick-butt juggler that incorporates that into her routine, I knew I couldn't compete with that. So, she got her other 1st place win in XMA weapons. :-) Maybe I really do have to start putting some XMA time in. I don't have to do anything that long, but I want to do something good. I half-joked that she can do XMA weapons, and I'll do open hand, and then we'll both be champions. ;-) I do also have to say that the other impressive thing about Sandy, that was especially evident in XMA, but also in everything she does, is that she's a lot more atheltic than people would guess her to be. If you look at the photo of us in my last post, you can see that neither of us are exactly looking like Elle McPhearson or Heidi Klum. You wouldn't think that two "fluffy" women like ourselves would actually be fairly decent martial artists and do well in competition. Well, Sandy has this forward roll in her XMA routine that I don't think I would even get close to attempting for fear of ending up with my face planted in the mats. Sure enough, she went to do it, with no hands put down, and did that flying forward roll right in front of the judges, and she sailed through the air and rolled up as if nothing had happened. It was the smoothest thing I've seen in a long time! So even if she had other adult competition, she would've blown them away. She's really awesome at what she does.
After that, there was one more ring that she and I were drafted to help out with, namely the teen/young adult black belt guys. This time, I was the corner judge in charge of feet. It was a slightly playful ring, as the guys had been judging all night, and it was late and we were all tired. Sandy kept score, so she got extra practice with that. It ended well, and it was late, so we decided to just go home.
It was a long night, but a good one. While I'm proud of my competition accomplishments, it was certainly a trial by fire having to help judge in two rings tonight. It really is a lot harder than it looks! If it was just judging like in testing, that's a little easier, as you don't have to give points. You just have to rate if it was excellent, good, fair, poor or just plain awful. Even in sparring, you judge that way, not in how many points you get. I guess now that I have a little experience under my belt, it'll be that much easier when I go to certify as a corner judge. We'll see. It'll just take some more practice, I'm sure.
But I think the one thing I'm most proud of, not how I held up during my first judging rings, or how I did in competition, was how Drew was tonight. He even told me he didn't cry tonight when he only got a bronze medal (all the kids in his ring got bronze medals), and the fact that he wanted to help, and he helped well, and maintained his composure and acted very mature in this whole thing. JC felt that he needs to be rewarded for this at home (we have a "chip" system where he earns chips for good behavior, and felt that Drew should get an extra chip, to which I agreed), but also at TKD. He already earned a red star on his uniform for participating. But I can tell you, he did more than any other kid his rank there, and he was the youngest one doing it. He helped with scorekeeping in *3* - count 'em! - *3* rings. That's really great! So, I'm going to see if he can get at least some sort of extra star for his participation in helping tonight. I'm sure that's not a problem, I just want to know which star is appropriate. I'm really proud of him. And I think as a result, he's taking more interest in doing this. He's already asking to do a regional tournament so that he can get a trophy instead of a medal. ;-) I made no promises, as the next regional is an hour away, and we'd have to be there VERY early in the morning. It's a long day. His dad would have to take him home after a while. It's literally an all day thing, from 8 AM to about 6 PM. I'm not sure if I'd be able to get away with leaving early-- I might-- since I have a little one, and technically, I wouldn't be certified as a corner judge yet. Although, I could be drafted for score/time keeping. :-S We'll have to see. Anyway, I digress. Drew is whom I'm proud of most. It's days like this that it's great to be a mom. :-)
Tonight we had our first Interschool Tournament for the year. I think it was a fairly decent turnout, considering it was Friday night and all. Normally Drew and I have Cub Scouts on Fridays, but since we didn't have a meeting scheduled for this week, we were able to participate. And participate, we did! It ended up being a very busy night for both of us.
I can't say a lot about Drew, because I was unable to watch his ring. SW had said that she needed to start training some more judges, and now that Sandy and I are black belts, we were being drafted. Sandy didn't come until later (as she had to bring her daughter with her), and Drew's ring and another ring were at the same time. So, since I couldn't do Drew's ring (bias as his mom-- you'd know I'd want to give him a high score!), I was wrangled into being a corner judge - for the first time!-- in a color belt ring that was comprised of Drew's peers. Most of the kids from his classes are a little older than him (by 1-3 years), and as he is not 7 years old yet, and they all are, the requirements are different. Drew, being a Tiny Tiger, only has to learn half the form, and he can have assistance with it from the instructor. WELL, at least according to Drew, he was awesome, and even did a great SJB freestyle. ;-) He was very proud of his 2 medals, and his new red fabric star for his uniform. He told JC (who came in case Drew didn't want to stick around all night waiting for me) that he wanted to stay and help, so Drew asked SW, and she said sure. Now, again, remember, he's only 6. So, they put him to work to be a scorekeeper during the sparring matches. They have flip chart-type things to show the score in the sparring rounds, and his job was to work the flip chart. Sometimes it can go pretty fast and furious, but he was able to keep up, surprisingly enough. In many respects, he was doing a Leadership job, even though he's not in leadership. I'm still not ready to do that. I still don't think he has the maturity for it yet, and I don't have the money for it either. Anyhow, he was really great, and he really enjoyed it. At the end, as they were handing out the medals to the competiting kids, he would help hand out the medals and doing the handshakes. I think he felt very important! :-)
But anyway, I did miss him competing. I'm sure he was fine, but let me tell you, he couldn't be any worse than some of his peers. Some of them definitely knew what they were doing. There were kids that were up there, older than him, who didn't have a clue! And they were competing for a rank placement, vs. Tiny Tigers all get some sort of reward for participating. Oh my gosh. Well, it was difficult enough. I never gave higher than an 8. I kinda kept most of my scores towards the middle. I think the lowest score I gave was a 4, because the kid didn't even know his form. I don't know that he choked from nerves. Our center judge, BP, even got up and ended up doing the whole thing with him. So, I didn't want to give him a zero. You'd really have to screw up to get a zero. Thus, in forms, I was a "hand" judge. Most of the kids were doing the same form as me, so I knew it well. It was truly subjective. The kids who seemed to have a very good sense of what they were doing got the winning ranks, and it showed. During the weapons part, it's all freestyle, so I didn't have to judge just one aspect of it, like "hands". Again, there were kids that did some nice stuff, some that had a clue but it wasn't polished, and then there was the kid who just wagged his BME back and forth for 20 seconds (because that's all you get). He didn't get a big score from me either. Oy. Sparring is where it's interesting. It's very different when you are on the sidelines sizing up the competition, vs. having to actually make the call! It's a lot harder than it looks. Half the time, someone else would call, "BREAK!", but I saw the hit, and I'd be able to make the call anyway. I was advised that when in doubt, either do a "no see" or "no points" if I'm not sure. It was a good competition with that, but again, you could see who was stronger and who wasn't. It was quite the experience.
After judging in that ring, MY ring was up. It was a menagerie of sorts. There were technically 4 different divisions in 1 ring, and even then, they combined us to be 2 rings in one. Three people were white/orange/yellow color belts, but all different ages. The other group was Sandy and myself, same age, same division. The W/O/Ys did pretty well for a first time out in the ring. Only one did weapons, which was good. I was always glad that I had started competing and testing with weapons early on, because now that I HAVE to do weapons, it's second nature. I don't even think about it. But of course, the competition was heated, as usual, with Sandy and I. For either of us, the worst we could do was 2nd place, after all. Nonetheless, I have to say that I really thought that Sandy would have the upper hand in most cases, seeing that she's generally more comfortable with the forms and her weapon form. I lucked out, because since I had just gotten my black belt a mere 2 days ago, I was allowed to do a freestyle. WELL, if that's the case, gotta bring out the award winning routine, even if I haven't dusted that off in 2-3 months! It was a little rusty, but I got about 99% of it out before time was called, and improvised the end. But first, she and I did the same form. Hers did look a lot smoother, there is no question of that, and I figured it might be close. I believe it was a close score - only a difference of 1 or 2 points. Weapons the same, but I didn't do that math that quickly in my head. As I said, I managed well, and I was sure that Sandy would smear me with her weapons finesse. She didn't catch one swing, but it wasn't as major as what ES was doing the other night (not by a longshot!). I think that's what might have been detrimental. Otherwise, it was a flawless routine. Then the sparring. I took the opportunity to break in my new black gear, and as much as I protested to SW that I thought the shin guards were too big, they were actually much better than the old ones I had before, I must admit. It was another really close match. Sandy made me work for those points right up until the end. She's getting faster all the time, and she is a mean puncher and can strike at all the right times, whereas I really depend on my kicks to get me through. Well, the move that did the trick was one of my attempted kicks to the head, my signature "move". Hey, gotta use my height to my advantage when I can, right? Well, this particular kick sailed directly over her head, and the judges called it a 2 pointer to me, as if I had actually made contact with her head. Their reasoning was that even though I hadn't made contact, she didn't make any attempt to block it either, hence the usual 2 points that are usually awarded for head kicks. That's what put me over the top. Otherwise, like I said, she made me work for those points right until the end. In the end, Sandy got 1st for forms, and I got 1st in sparring, as well as in weapons. I wasn't sure about the weapons, so it was a surprise! Later, Sandy was the solo XMA adult. I know she wanted me to do it, but I don't have a routine. I'd be purely improvising, and frankly, since she's a kick-butt juggler that incorporates that into her routine, I knew I couldn't compete with that. So, she got her other 1st place win in XMA weapons. :-) Maybe I really do have to start putting some XMA time in. I don't have to do anything that long, but I want to do something good. I half-joked that she can do XMA weapons, and I'll do open hand, and then we'll both be champions. ;-) I do also have to say that the other impressive thing about Sandy, that was especially evident in XMA, but also in everything she does, is that she's a lot more atheltic than people would guess her to be. If you look at the photo of us in my last post, you can see that neither of us are exactly looking like Elle McPhearson or Heidi Klum. You wouldn't think that two "fluffy" women like ourselves would actually be fairly decent martial artists and do well in competition. Well, Sandy has this forward roll in her XMA routine that I don't think I would even get close to attempting for fear of ending up with my face planted in the mats. Sure enough, she went to do it, with no hands put down, and did that flying forward roll right in front of the judges, and she sailed through the air and rolled up as if nothing had happened. It was the smoothest thing I've seen in a long time! So even if she had other adult competition, she would've blown them away. She's really awesome at what she does.
After that, there was one more ring that she and I were drafted to help out with, namely the teen/young adult black belt guys. This time, I was the corner judge in charge of feet. It was a slightly playful ring, as the guys had been judging all night, and it was late and we were all tired. Sandy kept score, so she got extra practice with that. It ended well, and it was late, so we decided to just go home.
It was a long night, but a good one. While I'm proud of my competition accomplishments, it was certainly a trial by fire having to help judge in two rings tonight. It really is a lot harder than it looks! If it was just judging like in testing, that's a little easier, as you don't have to give points. You just have to rate if it was excellent, good, fair, poor or just plain awful. Even in sparring, you judge that way, not in how many points you get. I guess now that I have a little experience under my belt, it'll be that much easier when I go to certify as a corner judge. We'll see. It'll just take some more practice, I'm sure.
But I think the one thing I'm most proud of, not how I held up during my first judging rings, or how I did in competition, was how Drew was tonight. He even told me he didn't cry tonight when he only got a bronze medal (all the kids in his ring got bronze medals), and the fact that he wanted to help, and he helped well, and maintained his composure and acted very mature in this whole thing. JC felt that he needs to be rewarded for this at home (we have a "chip" system where he earns chips for good behavior, and felt that Drew should get an extra chip, to which I agreed), but also at TKD. He already earned a red star on his uniform for participating. But I can tell you, he did more than any other kid his rank there, and he was the youngest one doing it. He helped with scorekeeping in *3* - count 'em! - *3* rings. That's really great! So, I'm going to see if he can get at least some sort of extra star for his participation in helping tonight. I'm sure that's not a problem, I just want to know which star is appropriate. I'm really proud of him. And I think as a result, he's taking more interest in doing this. He's already asking to do a regional tournament so that he can get a trophy instead of a medal. ;-) I made no promises, as the next regional is an hour away, and we'd have to be there VERY early in the morning. It's a long day. His dad would have to take him home after a while. It's literally an all day thing, from 8 AM to about 6 PM. I'm not sure if I'd be able to get away with leaving early-- I might-- since I have a little one, and technically, I wouldn't be certified as a corner judge yet. Although, I could be drafted for score/time keeping. :-S We'll have to see. Anyway, I digress. Drew is whom I'm proud of most. It's days like this that it's great to be a mom. :-)
Thursday, October 25, 2007
Behold the Black Belt amongst ye!
*WARNING: THIS IS A LONG POST WITH VIDEO AND PHOTOS, SO HANG ON TIGHT!*
Yes, you read the subject heading and the prior post correctly. I am now, officially, a 1st degree black belt DECIDED, otherwise designated in the ATA as a "1BD". Oh yeah!
Now, different practices/styles of martial arts have different timetables and methods to teach and have you earn your 1st dan/black belt. For me, it was two years, but it was a LONG two years. Last night was the culmination of all that blood, sweat, tears, pain, and injury that it took to get me there. But more on that in a minute.
There were two graduations last night. Let's do the one that came first, first. Drew finally achieved his camo belt, which was a long time coming! Had he been taking classes twice a week when he started (and before SW changed her policy), and he hadn't taken two summer breaks as well as a break last spring, he'd be a lot farther ahead in his belt ranking. But, the journey towards your first black belt is not a race, of which I am constantly reminded. It might be better in the end to let him go at his own rate, and that's fine. In the long run, he will really have great basic skills instead of okay ones by the time he's ready for his black belt testing. But that's still a long way off right now. Last night, he sealed the deal that he is officially in the intermediate color belt ranks.
Generally, I think he did well. He behaved well during the testing for the most part, so that was good. He's far from perfect, and yes, even with help, he still goofed up the half-form he had to do. But, his improved behavior in class and during the testing were the real progress made this cycle, and hopefully he'll continue to improve with that. And he's only 6, after all. As long as he has the concepts down, he's good to go. I will say this...I saw his scores for his sparring, and after you see the video, while he does get a little overly swirly, if he had made actual contact (graduation sparring is supposed to be no contact), he would have kicked the other kid's butt! He kept cornering the kid, and such, and yet I saw Drew had the lower score! The other kid barely kicked, and was constantly backing up, rarely on the offensive. I dunno...all that counts is that he passed, and he earned his belt, right?
So, onto the first video! First, Drew's form. Drew is the one who's starting in the center.
Drew doing 1/2 of Chung Jung 2
Drew did do a weapons form, namely a Jahng Bang/Bo staff freestyle, but it wasn't that great. It's optional to do weapons at his level, so he got a silver star for his uniform for doing it. But I had to get rid of something on the camera, as there wasn't enough memory to hold everything, so I dumped that.
Then, onto the sparring. Drew is the little one who starts on the right side of the screen.
Drew sparring
Then, when it was all said and done, a very happy boy with his new camo belt!
New Camo Belt! Yeah!
Now, onto the big event. My black belt testing.
It was just another rainy evening here in NJ, and your normal full house when it came to an adult/teen testing...
(I'm in the farthest back corner on the left)
Everyone had the usual course of having to show forms (poom-sae), weapons, sparring, and if needed, board breaks. I was very lucky to have my dear friend Sandy (and her daughter J) come not only to support me, but to be one of my official photographers/videographers. (My husband JC had the same assignment, but he didn't know what he was supposed to photograph as much as she did, so her video came out better overall.) So all video credits go to her!
I had to go at the same time as a very young 2nd degree, and ES, who is a 1st degree from my Wednesday morning classes. Now, in the first video, you see ES in the front/left, and I'm the huge Amazon in the back/right. So, here we go!
Chung Jung 2
Next, we did weapons. Now, all I had to do was drills, so it's nothing that exciting. But what's interesting to note, and I mentioned this on my regular blog, is that ES -- who's in the same position as before, is about 1-2 cycles ahead of me, thus she's already a 1BD. She's had weeks and weeks to learn her weapons form. She never did weapons at testings until she HAD to do so. So, here's the thing-- Sandy taught me the form that ES is doing in the video (not that you see it all) just yesterday afternoon for the first time. I learned it in about 10-15 minutes. Now, considering that, if I practiced yesterday afternoon, even *I* would have done better than ES, who's had weeks to practice. She kept dropping her ssahng jeh bang/numchakas, or not catching them. Well, as JC said to me, "I thought black belts were supposed to do better." As I explained to him, there are some like Sandy and myself who put a lot of time and effort to learn the curriculum and get all or as many of the nuances of what we have to know at that particular level, and there are those who only work on it during class, and do the minimal effort to get the minimum accomplished. And it shows. And it definitely shows in this video (and you don't see all of her weapons form).
Weapons
Next, we had sparring. Now, you may hear the judge for this event, the blond gal on the right (who happens to be a World Champion in XMA and a 4BD), tell us, "Show me your best moves, show me techniques you learned for this level, yada yada yada." This is always what I've done, but here I really had my chance to prove it. For me, being that this was graduation sparring, thus no contact, it was hard for me not to make contact. And as Sandy would attest, I've done graduation sparring where there's been PLENTY of contact, and been fine. But this was ES I was up against, so I knew even with no contact, I'd be fine. I'm the one in the back of the room closer to the wall when it starts...
Sparring
I swear that ES is doing the foxtrot or something during this. The camera cut off before we were done, but I got one good kick to the head where I lightly tapped her head. Oh, I wish it had been captured! There was no question that while I am the lower ranked one, I had more technique, if I do say so myself. ES was doing nothing but essentially dancing around. She should be able to beat me, but no. I did happen to get a sneak peak at our scores today at work, and at least SM (the judge) took note of that, because I score in the "excellent" range whereas ES was in the "poor" range. But ES still passed her progression testing (it wasn't a midterm, but you still have mini-midterms, and that's all she had).
We had some time to rest, which was good, because even after doing some extra control in sparring (it's a lot easier to actually do a full kick with contact than not), you're still tired. I was able to cool down just enough, and watch everyone else. There were only two of us who had to do board breaks. The first was a kid from my instructor's class who was going for his 2nd degree recommended ranking. He got his breaks in the first shot. I'm glad he went first, because just as we were being told that we were doing board breaking, that's just when the butterflies the size of condors started flapping in my stomach. So, then it was my turn. Here you go:
Board Break
Now, this is what happened, if you can't exactly understand what happened. My combination was a roundkick with my left foot, and then a reverse side with the right foot. I broke the roundkick with no problem. But I didn't get the right one because I didn't have the speed on it. When I went to set up for it again, since you have 3 tries, I was a little disoriented. Call it adrenaline or what have you. I am used to always doing that reverse sidekick in the combination, not "free standing". So, SW-- the one giving me directions, is pointing out that I was not positioning myself correctly for the break. I didn't feel I needed another practice, and just wanted to get it over with. Thankfully, it broke with that second attempt. I wasn't happy about that, because it meant less total points, but it was better than taking 3 shots at each board like at my last testing. At least this time, I had set myself up for success.
Finally, everyone lined up again, but this time by rank and not by height. I've worked my way towards the middle a little more now. After all the color belts received their belts, it was my turn-- I was the last to get a new belt. When I ran up, instead of just polite applause, I got a few whoops and hollers too, being that it was the people that knew me well and whom I've trained with all this time. SW had me take off my old belt, as she wrapped the double length belt around me.
Tie one on!
After she completed tying the belt on, I had to face the entire group, and she introduced me as the newest black belt to join the ranks. Then everyone bowed to me! Woo-hoo! I always thought that when that moment happened, I'd probably start crying. To be honest, I almost did, but I was able to choke back the tears. I got lots of high-fives as I went back to my spot in the ranks, and after we were dismissed, lots of congratulations and well wishes and hugs from many of my classmates who have supported me throughout the whole process. It felt really good. My family was there, my friends were there. Sandy was even kind and thoughtful enough to bring me roses, which were a big surprise! I was especially happy and grateful that she came. Ever since she and I became friends last year when she returned to the ATA, albeit spending the majority of her time at the other school initially, she made it more fun because there weren't any other adult close to or at my rank doing this. She came along, and she started out a little bit behind, but due to some workings by her main instructor at her school, she's about 1/2-1 cycle ahead of me, which is fine. I'm not that far behind. Our testing cycles just run differently, so she's about a month ahead of me. No matter! It would have been a very dull second year of learning without her being my tournament competition, and challenging me along the way to do better, and to feel okay that I didn't need to be like ES or some of the other ol' biddies that are there just muddling through. She made it fun when it could've been really dull.
So, now that we were both black belts, she wanted a photo! Of course!
Two Black Belt Buddies
And, I had to make sure that I had the obligatory photo with the woman who got me through all this, my instructor SW:
Me and SW
(Yes, I am that Amazonian height, and yes, even at her petite height she has a wicked reverse hook kick you don't want to get hit with.)
So there you go. And yes, I understand this is not the end, but the beginning. I've made it through the rigors of the color belts, and now have the true basics to be able to move onto bigger and better, as well as more challenging things. One thing I can say though now...I'm not in any rush for my 2nd degree belt! It would take another 2 years, if I went at the same pace as I have now, to get to that. I might take that long, or longer. There are plenty of progress and midterm tests between now and then, but I won't be changing rank, so no big deal. Drew is a little upset, as in jealous, that I have my black belt. But I've explained to him that he's taken breaks, and kids take longer to learn this stuff, but he'll catch up, I'm sure. He told me he'll have a 100th degree belt eventually, of which I have no doubt. ;-)
What's next you ask, other than continue in training? Well, there's an interschool tournament tomorrow, and I will have to practice my new weapons form quickly. I'm not out to win necessarily. I might, I might not, no big whoop. The worst I'll do is second place, after all, since Sandy is my competition! ;-) There's a regional tournament in November as well, but I'll have more time to get the practice in by then. But at least I'll be in a new echelon of competition ranking - 1st degree black belt, 30-something women. Oh yeah! Both Sandy and I are in that category now. I'll only be in that category until Worlds in June, and then I'll be in the 40-somethings since my 40th is in August. That will hopefully not have too many competitors! In either case, we'll both be up against some of our old contenders as well as some new ones, and being that we're all black belts, it's going to be a lot tougher, I suspect.
SW also approached both Sandy and I about certifying to judge in tournaments. You don't have to certify as an instructor to do so, but being that she's the RCT, I wouldn't be surprised if getting more judging help, now that Sandy and I are now eligible as black belts, is what she's after. Since I can't afford to bump up my certification/collar rank right now (both financially and, well, I haven't had the time to really review and cram for the cert tests), the judging one shouldn't be so bad. SW said she'd probably have a certification seminar and testing in December, and we could do that so we could qualify to get our judging chevrons (long patches put on our sleeves) as color belt corner judges. Both Sandy and I have done time and score keeping at both the interschool and regional levels, as well as competed, so we're ahead of the game in understanding the basics already. We'll see how that pans out.
After the tournament tomorrow, I'm taking a week's rest. We don't have classes on Wednesday due to Halloween, but maybe I'll go in that Saturday. We'll see. I think I need a small break.
Yes, you read the subject heading and the prior post correctly. I am now, officially, a 1st degree black belt DECIDED, otherwise designated in the ATA as a "1BD". Oh yeah!
Now, different practices/styles of martial arts have different timetables and methods to teach and have you earn your 1st dan/black belt. For me, it was two years, but it was a LONG two years. Last night was the culmination of all that blood, sweat, tears, pain, and injury that it took to get me there. But more on that in a minute.
There were two graduations last night. Let's do the one that came first, first. Drew finally achieved his camo belt, which was a long time coming! Had he been taking classes twice a week when he started (and before SW changed her policy), and he hadn't taken two summer breaks as well as a break last spring, he'd be a lot farther ahead in his belt ranking. But, the journey towards your first black belt is not a race, of which I am constantly reminded. It might be better in the end to let him go at his own rate, and that's fine. In the long run, he will really have great basic skills instead of okay ones by the time he's ready for his black belt testing. But that's still a long way off right now. Last night, he sealed the deal that he is officially in the intermediate color belt ranks.
Generally, I think he did well. He behaved well during the testing for the most part, so that was good. He's far from perfect, and yes, even with help, he still goofed up the half-form he had to do. But, his improved behavior in class and during the testing were the real progress made this cycle, and hopefully he'll continue to improve with that. And he's only 6, after all. As long as he has the concepts down, he's good to go. I will say this...I saw his scores for his sparring, and after you see the video, while he does get a little overly swirly, if he had made actual contact (graduation sparring is supposed to be no contact), he would have kicked the other kid's butt! He kept cornering the kid, and such, and yet I saw Drew had the lower score! The other kid barely kicked, and was constantly backing up, rarely on the offensive. I dunno...all that counts is that he passed, and he earned his belt, right?
So, onto the first video! First, Drew's form. Drew is the one who's starting in the center.
Drew doing 1/2 of Chung Jung 2
Drew did do a weapons form, namely a Jahng Bang/Bo staff freestyle, but it wasn't that great. It's optional to do weapons at his level, so he got a silver star for his uniform for doing it. But I had to get rid of something on the camera, as there wasn't enough memory to hold everything, so I dumped that.
Then, onto the sparring. Drew is the little one who starts on the right side of the screen.
Drew sparring
Then, when it was all said and done, a very happy boy with his new camo belt!
New Camo Belt! Yeah!
Now, onto the big event. My black belt testing.
It was just another rainy evening here in NJ, and your normal full house when it came to an adult/teen testing...
(I'm in the farthest back corner on the left)
Everyone had the usual course of having to show forms (poom-sae), weapons, sparring, and if needed, board breaks. I was very lucky to have my dear friend Sandy (and her daughter J) come not only to support me, but to be one of my official photographers/videographers. (My husband JC had the same assignment, but he didn't know what he was supposed to photograph as much as she did, so her video came out better overall.) So all video credits go to her!
I had to go at the same time as a very young 2nd degree, and ES, who is a 1st degree from my Wednesday morning classes. Now, in the first video, you see ES in the front/left, and I'm the huge Amazon in the back/right. So, here we go!
Chung Jung 2
Next, we did weapons. Now, all I had to do was drills, so it's nothing that exciting. But what's interesting to note, and I mentioned this on my regular blog, is that ES -- who's in the same position as before, is about 1-2 cycles ahead of me, thus she's already a 1BD. She's had weeks and weeks to learn her weapons form. She never did weapons at testings until she HAD to do so. So, here's the thing-- Sandy taught me the form that ES is doing in the video (not that you see it all) just yesterday afternoon for the first time. I learned it in about 10-15 minutes. Now, considering that, if I practiced yesterday afternoon, even *I* would have done better than ES, who's had weeks to practice. She kept dropping her ssahng jeh bang/numchakas, or not catching them. Well, as JC said to me, "I thought black belts were supposed to do better." As I explained to him, there are some like Sandy and myself who put a lot of time and effort to learn the curriculum and get all or as many of the nuances of what we have to know at that particular level, and there are those who only work on it during class, and do the minimal effort to get the minimum accomplished. And it shows. And it definitely shows in this video (and you don't see all of her weapons form).
Weapons
Next, we had sparring. Now, you may hear the judge for this event, the blond gal on the right (who happens to be a World Champion in XMA and a 4BD), tell us, "Show me your best moves, show me techniques you learned for this level, yada yada yada." This is always what I've done, but here I really had my chance to prove it. For me, being that this was graduation sparring, thus no contact, it was hard for me not to make contact. And as Sandy would attest, I've done graduation sparring where there's been PLENTY of contact, and been fine. But this was ES I was up against, so I knew even with no contact, I'd be fine. I'm the one in the back of the room closer to the wall when it starts...
Sparring
I swear that ES is doing the foxtrot or something during this. The camera cut off before we were done, but I got one good kick to the head where I lightly tapped her head. Oh, I wish it had been captured! There was no question that while I am the lower ranked one, I had more technique, if I do say so myself. ES was doing nothing but essentially dancing around. She should be able to beat me, but no. I did happen to get a sneak peak at our scores today at work, and at least SM (the judge) took note of that, because I score in the "excellent" range whereas ES was in the "poor" range. But ES still passed her progression testing (it wasn't a midterm, but you still have mini-midterms, and that's all she had).
We had some time to rest, which was good, because even after doing some extra control in sparring (it's a lot easier to actually do a full kick with contact than not), you're still tired. I was able to cool down just enough, and watch everyone else. There were only two of us who had to do board breaks. The first was a kid from my instructor's class who was going for his 2nd degree recommended ranking. He got his breaks in the first shot. I'm glad he went first, because just as we were being told that we were doing board breaking, that's just when the butterflies the size of condors started flapping in my stomach. So, then it was my turn. Here you go:
Board Break
Now, this is what happened, if you can't exactly understand what happened. My combination was a roundkick with my left foot, and then a reverse side with the right foot. I broke the roundkick with no problem. But I didn't get the right one because I didn't have the speed on it. When I went to set up for it again, since you have 3 tries, I was a little disoriented. Call it adrenaline or what have you. I am used to always doing that reverse sidekick in the combination, not "free standing". So, SW-- the one giving me directions, is pointing out that I was not positioning myself correctly for the break. I didn't feel I needed another practice, and just wanted to get it over with. Thankfully, it broke with that second attempt. I wasn't happy about that, because it meant less total points, but it was better than taking 3 shots at each board like at my last testing. At least this time, I had set myself up for success.
Finally, everyone lined up again, but this time by rank and not by height. I've worked my way towards the middle a little more now. After all the color belts received their belts, it was my turn-- I was the last to get a new belt. When I ran up, instead of just polite applause, I got a few whoops and hollers too, being that it was the people that knew me well and whom I've trained with all this time. SW had me take off my old belt, as she wrapped the double length belt around me.
Tie one on!
After she completed tying the belt on, I had to face the entire group, and she introduced me as the newest black belt to join the ranks. Then everyone bowed to me! Woo-hoo! I always thought that when that moment happened, I'd probably start crying. To be honest, I almost did, but I was able to choke back the tears. I got lots of high-fives as I went back to my spot in the ranks, and after we were dismissed, lots of congratulations and well wishes and hugs from many of my classmates who have supported me throughout the whole process. It felt really good. My family was there, my friends were there. Sandy was even kind and thoughtful enough to bring me roses, which were a big surprise! I was especially happy and grateful that she came. Ever since she and I became friends last year when she returned to the ATA, albeit spending the majority of her time at the other school initially, she made it more fun because there weren't any other adult close to or at my rank doing this. She came along, and she started out a little bit behind, but due to some workings by her main instructor at her school, she's about 1/2-1 cycle ahead of me, which is fine. I'm not that far behind. Our testing cycles just run differently, so she's about a month ahead of me. No matter! It would have been a very dull second year of learning without her being my tournament competition, and challenging me along the way to do better, and to feel okay that I didn't need to be like ES or some of the other ol' biddies that are there just muddling through. She made it fun when it could've been really dull.
So, now that we were both black belts, she wanted a photo! Of course!
Two Black Belt Buddies
And, I had to make sure that I had the obligatory photo with the woman who got me through all this, my instructor SW:
Me and SW
(Yes, I am that Amazonian height, and yes, even at her petite height she has a wicked reverse hook kick you don't want to get hit with.)
So there you go. And yes, I understand this is not the end, but the beginning. I've made it through the rigors of the color belts, and now have the true basics to be able to move onto bigger and better, as well as more challenging things. One thing I can say though now...I'm not in any rush for my 2nd degree belt! It would take another 2 years, if I went at the same pace as I have now, to get to that. I might take that long, or longer. There are plenty of progress and midterm tests between now and then, but I won't be changing rank, so no big deal. Drew is a little upset, as in jealous, that I have my black belt. But I've explained to him that he's taken breaks, and kids take longer to learn this stuff, but he'll catch up, I'm sure. He told me he'll have a 100th degree belt eventually, of which I have no doubt. ;-)
What's next you ask, other than continue in training? Well, there's an interschool tournament tomorrow, and I will have to practice my new weapons form quickly. I'm not out to win necessarily. I might, I might not, no big whoop. The worst I'll do is second place, after all, since Sandy is my competition! ;-) There's a regional tournament in November as well, but I'll have more time to get the practice in by then. But at least I'll be in a new echelon of competition ranking - 1st degree black belt, 30-something women. Oh yeah! Both Sandy and I are in that category now. I'll only be in that category until Worlds in June, and then I'll be in the 40-somethings since my 40th is in August. That will hopefully not have too many competitors! In either case, we'll both be up against some of our old contenders as well as some new ones, and being that we're all black belts, it's going to be a lot tougher, I suspect.
SW also approached both Sandy and I about certifying to judge in tournaments. You don't have to certify as an instructor to do so, but being that she's the RCT, I wouldn't be surprised if getting more judging help, now that Sandy and I are now eligible as black belts, is what she's after. Since I can't afford to bump up my certification/collar rank right now (both financially and, well, I haven't had the time to really review and cram for the cert tests), the judging one shouldn't be so bad. SW said she'd probably have a certification seminar and testing in December, and we could do that so we could qualify to get our judging chevrons (long patches put on our sleeves) as color belt corner judges. Both Sandy and I have done time and score keeping at both the interschool and regional levels, as well as competed, so we're ahead of the game in understanding the basics already. We'll see how that pans out.
After the tournament tomorrow, I'm taking a week's rest. We don't have classes on Wednesday due to Halloween, but maybe I'll go in that Saturday. We'll see. I think I need a small break.
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
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