Belt test #2 coming up....

This Saturday, I have another belt test coming up. This is going to be my second belt test. The belt tests are held approximately every 8 weeks, which is plenty of time to learn your form and sparring combinations. Although, some people do not always pass. This is most commonly because some students didn't take time oustside of class to work on their moves. Unless you are going at least three or four times a week, you are most definitely gonna have to practice outside of class.

I only go to practice two days a week because of my busy schedule. But this does not mean I only work out 2 days a week. I also work out two days on my own at my home. This extra practice is essential to becoming a great martial artist. You must work hard to train your body, otherwise you may never reach your full potential or you may get seriously injured.

Im am going to test on the yellow belt form and yellow belt one-step sparring. The name of this form is Dang-Goon. There are about 18 moves is this form set, which is 4 more moves than the ki-ban pattern that I learned to earn my yellow belt.

We are going to have a guest judge at this belt testing. I am a little nervous because of this but I think I handle it, especially since I just won a gold medal for yellow belt one-step sparring and a bronze medal for yellow belt form. You never know what might happen in between now and the test, so I must remain focused so I can pass this test and gain my orange belt.

Going for the Gold

I had my first tournament a couple weeks ago. It was as exciting as it was nerve wrecking. I was ready though I didn't know if I would do as good as I would like to, but I was sure going to try.

Since I had I had never been to a Taekwondo America tournament I really wasn't sure what time to be there, so, I got there about 8:45 am, fifteen minutes before it began. They started with the black belts first, and I had been causious but kind of over did it because I actually didn't end up competiting till about 3:30 pm. I was determined to ontime, and you know what they say: "you're late when you're ontime, and you're ontime when you're early."

I sat, and watched, and sat, and watched....and sat and watched some more. Finally, it was my turn. We gathered in the lunch room of Edythe J. Hayes middle school, and waited to be marched in to the ring where we would compete. I was so nervous, not because I wasn't ready, but for the simple fact that I had never done this before. My palms were sweaty and my legs were heavy as we marched in to the gym filled with 6square mat rings. Time to put up or shut up.....

After it was all said and done, I ending winning! I recieve a 1st place gold medal for yellow belt sparring and a 3rd place bronze medal for yellow belt forms. This day was a complete success and I was absolutely pleased with my results. It's proof that hard work and dedication pays off.

Some Moves for Thought

Today I just wanted to show everyone some pictures and descriptions of the some of the moves I have learned so far. When beginning, you are a given a set of kicks punches, and blocks to learn, starting off with the easier ones and as you go on and build your strength the harder the moves get.

The one of the first moves we learn as a student is how to block. There are many, many ways to perform a block whether it's with your arms or feet.

This is a low block:


This is a high block:



This a square block:


This is a double knife hand block:

There is also a blocking kick that is called a crescent kick where you kick across the front of you making a crescent moon shape. I wanted to show you a picture but it is too hard to see. So I am gonna show you a little video instead if you will go to this link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5KhBxXLWl_4

Next you learn kicks. Some of the kicks are shown as follows:

Front kick:



The most powerful kick in taekwondo is the side kick:

Tournaments cont

Friendly competition is a good thing. It inspires us to do our best so that we can win. Even though winning isn't everything, we definately still like to win. The best part of friendly competition is that no one really loses. Yes, someone comes in first, but everyone learns and has fun. Most of all, everyone has bcome a better martial artist because of how hard they prepared themselves for the actual tournament.

Tournaments set an artificial that inspire students to push themselves harder, learn their forms, faster, and generally focus more in class. Taekwondo tournaments offer a division for you age and rank, whether you just started of whether you've trained for years. All ranks do their forms at the tournamen. White, yellow, orange, and senior orange belts compete in one-steps while green belts compete in point-sparring.

Forms competition is judged on a 1-10 scale using half points. Some of the things the judges look for are: correct moves, timing, precision, balance, stances, and focus. The competitor with the highest score wins. In the event of a tie, the competitors who have tied will be asked to perform their forms again and whoever the judges think performed better will win. In forms competition, you will recieve two chances to successfully complete your pattern. However, students who take a 2nd attempt to complete the pattern will be given a one-point deduction in the overall score. In the event of a tie, you will only recieve one chance to successfully complete your pattern.

For one-step sparring and point sparring, two competitors will be put up against each other and the winner advances to the next round untill there is 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th place winner. The criteria for onesteps are the same as forms.

Tournament Coming Up Soon

I have my first Taekwondo tournament coming up on March 27th. Something of which I am very, very excited about. Honestly, I have no idea what to expect. I can't wait to see all the other schools and see what kind of talent they have. I would love to see how I measure up to other yellow belts. These tourneys are a great to show your skills, ability, attitude, and respect that you have for Taekwondo America. In this sport, respect is everything. Disrespecting one of these black belts could potentially be one of the biggest mistakes one can make, especially since they can do spin kicks higher than one's head.

I am almost ready to compete. I have just a couple more moves to learn. One of the great things about getting ready for your tournament is that you will already have all the moves learned for when test time comes up shortly after the tournament. It's a win-win situation, and personally that's kind of situation I would like to be in, that's just me. Therefore, I will ready to achieve orange belt status way before test time. I am very excited about that cause it takes all the pressure away. So wish me luck and in the next post I will give you some tournament edicate.

Dreams

As long as I can remember, I have always wanted to be a fighter. I don't know why and I don't know how I came to like it so much. I guess you can say it's in my blood.

I would even dream about fighting. Not so much as starting fights or being a trouble maker but just having to fight in general. I've had countless dreams of fighting, whether it be with my brothers or a childhood bully. I remember when I was little, I used to have dreams where I wanted to fight and I knew I had the will to fight but for some reason my arms would get real heavy and I couldn't fight back. In the dream this is really scary to me, but when I wake up I soon realize that the reason that my arm kept feeling real heavy in the dream is because I kept sleeping on my belly. Some time during the night I would put my arms under me and against my chest. I guess I would have my arms there long enough that they would fall asleep due to lack of blood flow. It's crazy how the way you sleep can affect the way you dream.

Even though I absolutely love the art of fighting, I do know that there is a downside to fighting. For every yin there is his equal and opposite partner, yang. Growing up on 19Th and Russell st. in Covington, KY, I know all to well what it means to have to fight to survive. I've been in countless fights, most of which I didn't want to be in but had no choice but to defend my self.

I have only been beat up one time in my life, not counting the many times my older brother had beat me up. This was not a fair fight. I was all alone against five or six, I can't really remember. Although, this was a lost battle, I got up to fight another day. You might think that this experience would make me scared to fight again, or scared to live in my neighborhood, but this is not the case with me.

The next day, I held my head high, black eye and all. To me this was just a battle wound and I was ready for more. I didn't fall back into submission from a five on one beat down. I stepped into determination. I was to determined to prove that I am a fighter, I will not go down without a fight. From that day on, I was never scared of any one man again.

Whether fighting is to be good or bad, for some reason the world keeps calling me back to it. I guess you could call it fate....I wouldn't but you could. I am fortunate enough to have found a positive way to still fight, let out aggression, and overall reduce any unwanted stress. Coming back to the fate comment I made earlier....I wouldn't call it fate, but I would call it a blessing.

Test Day

Friday was test day......and let me tell you, I was very nervous, but I tried not to let it show, well, at least not too much. The reason I was so nervous was not because I wasn't ready or because I didnt know all my moves, or even because this is time that it really counts. The main reason I was nervous was because on test day students not only have to test before other students and instructors but friends and family too. It's easier to go up in front of people you don't know and will never see again. If you make a mistake most people don't even realize or forget about it five minutes later. Although, when you are in front of peers, friends, and family, who you see everyday, it's like you have a point to prove. That point is that you can make it and you can succeed, and that you can do anything that you set your mind to.
It's time for class to begin, and yes I am still nervous. My mouth is dry, my palms are sweaty, and my legs feel like rubber. At the beginning, we have to stretch and exercise a lit bit to get our legs warm, blood flowing, and heart rate up. Oh, and trust me, my heart rate was definately up there for momment cause I couldn't think straight as I was trying to follow the serious of kicks for our warm up. Fortunately, after we were all stretched out, and warmed up, I started to calm down, and the series of block, kicks, and punches all came flooding back to me when the time that matter most was upon me. I demonstrated my form and all my one step sparring combinations, then, it was over and I had performed beautifully just as the hundreds of times of repitittions beforehand had molded me to do so.....I was proud.