So, last Friday, I had my third Tae Kwon Do Belt Test. I was testing for Green Belt, which is the 5th level at my school. The test involved marching (responding quickly to commands given in mixed Korean/English), Forms (Through Do-San / Tosan for me), One Steps (I know through #14), Board Breaking (4 12″ x 12″ x 1″ #2 pine boards), and Sparring. Additionally there was some general fitness stuff like push-ups and the like.
Everything went well! The hardest part for me was one of the breaks - I had to try and break a board using a hammer-fist technique (your fist comes around behind you, up, and down like a hammer). I hit the board very hard, but the thing wouldn’t break! Later I heard that if you snap it more the board will break. I went first on breaking so I didn’t hear that advice, ah well. I broke that board with a spinning back kick instead (which is a somewhat more advanced technique). I ended up breaking with a front kick, a skip side kick, and a spinning back kick.
I think I most enjoyed the sparring, it’s very improvisational. I got to spar Max, a young red belt. I have a pretty strong advantage size-wise, but he certainly outranks me by a fair margin. I did pretty well though, or at least everyone said I did ;).
All in all, I’m really glad to be studying TKD. It’s awakened something in me that I never knew I had before, and has made me a much stronger person. I really like my school, too–they push me to give my all.
