After almost 2 years (January 2003 will be 2 years) of struggles and trials, I have finally recieved my black belt in Tae Kwon Do. THe belt was given to me Saturday the 2nd. The belt testing started at 9:30 a.m.
For those who don't know, the Taekwondo ranks at my school go in order from: White,Yellow,Orange,Green,Blue,Purple,Red,Red w/ black stripe, and finally black. The belt has my name embroidered in Korean characters on one side, my instructors name on the other.
To obtain the belt, a long belt test was required. It began with the Taeguek Poomse forms (Forms are the art form of TKD, they are similar to dances made up of various blocks and attacks). I had to perform the form for white, yellow, orange, green, 2 forms for blue, the one for purple, red, and red/black, 8 forms in all.
Afterwards came 1-step sparring. These were movements designed to simulate attacks and your response to them. An example of one, #19, is:
*Attacker is holding weapon in right hand and advances upon you.
*Execute right outer-inner crescent kick to attackers right hand to disarm
*Execute jumping spinning right crescent kick to attackers head.
There were 35 1-steps in all. After the steps came grabs,holds, and throws. These are modeled after Hapkidos disarming techniques. There were 25 of them to perform.
Afterwards came fighting. The fight began with Buddy (green belt) and Steve (1st degree black belt) against me. After roughly a minute, the fight was stopped and the instructors son John (3rd degree black) was ordered to join. The fight ended with John, Steve, and Buddy against me. No touching was allowed since protective armor was not worn, but that did not mean they didn't slip at times.
Finally came board breaking. The instructor informed me I was required to break 3 different boards. The techniques chosen were Yop Chagi (side kick) Dwit Chagi (back kick) and Dolyo Chagi (roundhouse kick). The first two boards broke, however the last one, held by buddy, did not. Not on account of me not hitting it, but the fact I missed a tad and slammed my foot into Buddys wrist. After he finished howling, we tried again and this time the board broke.
All in all, it went pretty good. Steve got his 2nd test towards 2nd degree black belt that day (3 tests to first degree, 7 to 2nd) Morgan got her purple belt, Buddy got his blue belt, and Blair got his red/black one. Some of the parents there congratulated me on my accomplishment.
And as a surprise, my mom ordered me a new uniform. This one is like my current one, except the collar is trimmed in black instead of white. Only black belts are allowed to wear black-trimmed uniforms.
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