Taylor's Black Belt Test

On 9/20/2008 I had my black belt test. It was hard. I felt nervous. Boy did this kid look nervous. He wouldn't even crack a smile at me. As a mom all I wanted to do was to go over and give him a big hug and tell him it was o.k.



The first part was easy. All I had to do was 5 forms. By the look on his face you would have thought that he was being asked to jump into a pit of hungry lions.



Then it got a little harder. I had to do kicking combinations.



This picture makes me laugh. If you look closely at his kicking foot, it looks like he has no toes. He has his toes curled back.

Then I had to do attack and defense which is a little bit harder.



After that I had to break boards. 2 boards together with my elbow (It didn't break until my 4th try.) Then I had to do jumping horse kick and jumping spinning hook kick. Master Augustine only told them they would be breaking boards, not how. That is left as a surprise. For the black belt test the boards were 1/2" pine instead of balsa.



Then we had to spare. First of all when we spared, we just spared. Which means 1 on 1 for 3 minutes. Then we had to fight 2 on 1. Which was hard for me.



Taylor has been taking for about 3 years and I have never seen Master Augustine do this. Each kid that tested would be in the ring for 3 minutes with 2 other kids going at them. Almost every kid (including Taylor) got upset toward the end of the 3 minutes. This was the hardest part for me to watch. My first reaction is to protect my kid. However, this is one of the things that Master Augustine does so well. He knows how to push these kids enough that they have to struggle, but not enough that you think he has pushed them too far. I know at least part of the reason why he does this is to teach them that when it gets hard and overwhelming, you don't give up. You keep trying.

Then we had to fight with no chest guard. Twiggy kids fighting twiggy kids - nothing to be worried about. They call it a "Korean massage."

I had to read my black belt thesis. Taylor had to write a 2 page paper about Tae Kwon Do. That poor kid. Again he was so nervous. He read the entire thing out loud with his lip quivering. He told me after, that he was having a hard time reading it because his chin wasn't moving right.

Then after that we received our black belt.



I felt excited. I like my belt and uniform because it has my name on it.



He finally cracked a smile!



(We also had a long talk.) He told us about being a black belt and what we are suppose to do. Then he told us that black belts are suppose to love other black belts and be happy. And if you quit Master Augustine won't loose anything or your friends won't loose anything too, you would.

Master Augustine talked to them for about a half an hour about what it means to be a black belt. He primarily talked about the importance of honesty, humility and leading by example in all areas of your life. He then awarded him with his new black belt.



This is his "official" picture that will get hung up at the studio with all of the other black belts.

I am so proud of him! Not only did he do great on his test even though he was nervous, he cheered on his friends and encouraged them as well. What a great kid.

And thanks Mom for the great pictures!