My 11th Belt Test

Last night (12/8/2011), my nine-year-old daughter and I participated in our 11th belt test. We have been studying taekwondo at World Champion Taekwondo for 33 months. We advanced from red belt to black stripe. We were the only two in our belt group. We began the test at 6:15pm. Our instructor, HyungMin Jun (aka Eric), called up the red belts. He had us do jumping jacks and pushups and more jumping jacks. Then we did basic punching and Hand Technique Number 3 and Kicking Combination Number 3. I lost the count during the kicking combination, and we had to do it again. I was breathing heavily by then, so I was glad he didn't ask us to do our form next.

Next, we did self-defense and one-step sparing. My daughter went first, so I had the chance to breathe a little bit. Betty (green belt) came up to work with Samantha and Nancy (brown belt) came up to be my partner. She was a very good partner. The self defense technique required the attacker to grab my sleeve, then I spun my arm around her hand, locking her attacking arm before throwing a punch to the solar plexus, a c-strike to the throat and an elbow to the face. Then, I grabbed my attackers belt, stepped forward, placing my foot behind hers and threw her down to the floor before delivering a final punch to the face. Of course, I did all of this without actually hitting my partner.

The one-step sparring sequence was a bit less complicated. The attacker began with a round house kick. The defender slid back before delivering a spinning roundhouse kick followed immediately by a spinning hook kick. Getting the spins right is pretty tricky, and I could actually use a lot more practice. In an actual sparring situation, it is unlikely that I would have actually hit my target with either kick.

We finished with our form: tae guk pal jang. This has been one of my favorite forms. It has two jumping kicks and couple of really cool hand techniques in slow motion. I made a mistake or two, but I was able to compensate and continue. He didn't ask us to start over or do it again. Then we sat down, it was 6:30 pm.

Next, the brown belts stood up and did nearly the same thing except that they performed a different form. Only Nancy and Robert were in attendance. Bert had tested earlier because he knew that he would be out-of-town today. Claire had a fever this evening. She will probably miss the demonstration tomorrow, too. I expected to see J.T., but she wasn't there. She is moving to Texas later this month, and she said she was going to do this one last belt test, but she didn't make it. Deacon also stood up with the brown belts even though he is a blue belt.

When the brown belts finished, the green belts stood up. My six-year-old son was the smallest among them. They were the largest group. I think there were seven: (1) Nick, (2) Tristan, (3) Trinity, (4) Betty, (5) Eladio, (6) Jacob and (7) Jason. They went through all the same things as the two previous groups, except of course, they performed a different form.

For the grand finale, we all stood up with our boards. We read our philosophies by belt group. Then we read our bad habits. Then the children promised their parents that they would change their bad habits. Then we lined up for breaking. The green belts and blue belts went first. The green belts broke with hammer fist and the blue belt broke with elbow strike. Then the brown belts broke with with spinning roundhouse kick. I remember Nancy needed two attempts. Then the red belts lined up to break with spinning hook kick. I needed two attempts, too, but I made the break. Master Je Kim held my board for me. He told me I had a nice spinning hook kick. I love it when the masters compliment my kicks.

Next, Master Eric asked all the children who would be earning their fourth or eighth star to please stand up. The children are awarded stars if they earn ten stripes in the quarter. The earn stripes by showing a good attitude at home. Only Eladio stood. My six-year-old son had three stars on his uniform, but he hadn't earned ten black stripes, so he couldn't earn his gold star and trophy tonight. There had been some tears at home about that, but I had decided to be stricter about signing for those stripes, and so they hadn't earned as many. Samantha was up for her 10th (and final) star. She was the most devastated about not receiving one tonight. I rather hope that she is recognized at the Christmas party this year. One interesting change this test: they awarded medals to the adults. Since adults don't participate in the stripes program, we don't usually receive medals at the test. We did not receive gold stars for our uniforms.

The very last thing were a whole bunch of announcements. The school is restructuring some things in the new year. First, Master Eric is adding a Level 4 class for brown belts, red belts and black belts. The Saturday class is specifically to prepare for the black belt test. By adding brown belts to this class, it makes me think that maybe Nancy, Bert, Claire and Robert will be able to test with me and Samantha in April. I hope so. It will nice for the school to have so many black belts. On the other hand, adding a Level 4 class means that I won't be able to attend classes with my son anymore. He is in Level 3 (green belts and blue belts). That means I will be putting in some time on the bench with the other moms.

He also announced a change in the way that they teach forms, self-defense and one-step sparring. In stead of each belt learning a different form, self-defense technique and one-step sparring sequence. The four belts in the same level will all learn the same one, then they all learn a different one for the next quarter. It will rotate each quarter so that everybody still learns everything, but they learn it together. This way, it will take up less class time and hopefully improve the quality of the instruction for everyone. I think it will be a good change, but it won't affect me, since I will soon be starting on the black belt forms, self-defense techniques and one-step sparring sequences.

They are also changing up the weekly themes. The attitude stripes I mentioned above follow a weekly theme: (1) respect, (2) appreciation, (3) cleanliness, (4) responsibility, (5) love and thanks, (6) above and beyond. There are 12-14 weeks in each quarter, so the themes repeat. Now, they are adding a corresponding monthly theme: (Jan) goal setting and self control, (Feb) love and positive attitude, (Mar) perseverance and team woke, (Apr) integrity and sportsmanship, (May) respect and responsibility, (Jun) se;f-discipline and focus, (Jul) cooperation and forgiveness, (Aug) organization and determination, (Sep) courage and friendship, (Oct) confidence and courtesy, (Nov) leadership and motivation, and (Dec) self-esteem. The instructors will take a minute to discuss each theme at the beginning or end of class each day. I imagine this will be something like the Scoutmasters minute in Boy Scouting. And the students will wear a colored rubber band to represent each theme, a different color each month. These rubber bands look a lot like the popular Live Strong bracelets. The rubber band will be considered a part of the uniform and must be word to class each day. I think the program will be a nice addition to the curriculum. I hope they are not so big that they fall right off my sons small wrist.