Good morning again! Hope today finds you all well! I will finally complete this series today (started early enough to finish it today hehe)
To continue regarding the seminar of Friday night. We went through many moves, some very basic, others that were a little more advanced, basic cuts, stances. moving with the weapon, how to carry it and how to properly ready the weapon for use. Over all It was a great experience and I look forward to learning more in the next several months as we are starting a sword/Hapkido class on Saturdays so we are better prepared to learn more advanced moves when our GM comes back in 6 months.
Testing itself was a grueling five hours. We started at 10 and went until after 2. It was a long hard trip, but It was well worth it to under the tutelage of such a great teacher. We had one of our young men receive his 1st Dan Rank (black belt). My instructor received his 4th Dan as well as being certified as a Master-Instructor in the UMA TKD association. We had two other instructors (one from our school and one from another school) that also ranked up. Our instructor received her 3rd Dan and the other received her 4th Dan and is working towards her Master rank.
I received my 2nd Kup (red belt) and am drawing closer to my Black belt. I was able to spar with most all of the higher belts. It was allot of fun, I can always fight against the two lower ranked black belts, but my instructor is another story..though I did get one good head shot on him hehe. Every time I spar with these higher belts they teach me so much, how to move, what to throw, when to hold back, when to just go all out and so on.
One of my favorite parts to participate in during any of our testing is our board breaking. My daughter participated in this testing as well (and she double promoted! now ranking 5th Kup, Green belt) and she was able to break with a back kick. It took her many tries to break it , but she finally did and she made me proud. I was asked to break with a jump round house. It was a little intimidating, but I broke in one shot, so I was excited.
Over all, I grew some more during this testing, I developed a greater insight into what it takes to be a martial artist for life, I saw the power and the respect that happens when one continues to develop in the arts. I am looking forward to moving onward and upward as I progress!
I will start taking suggestions for my next series, so If you have any ideas, let me know! Till next time, you stay classy Fubar!
