But I am actually here to talk about TKD. Yes, again! I mentioned that Al had set two goals. One, the splits. Check. And two, to get his camouflage belt in April. He was actually eligible to test for camo in February. He had earned his stripes on his yellow belt and knew his material but we decided to do the tournament in February and hold off on testing. I am so glad we did. It gave him time to really work on the details and improve his technique.
When Alex started TKD I have to be honest, he was the worst one in the class for a good few months. His kicks were seriously about 3 inches off the ground and he walked through the movements with very little attention to detail. Now he sets up properly for every move and has all his stances down and the teachers have used him as an example to demonstrate for the new students all session long. It has been SO fun to see him improve and rise to the top of the class.
White, orange and yellow belts test together and I truly believe he was the best one in there today. You may think I am biased but since I train with him I actually feel like I am pretty objective because I really want to help him continue to improve and besides I did say he started out at the bottom of the class. Would a biased mom say that?
I try to see him as he really is, and he really rocked today! I wish I had taken a video of his first ever promotion to compare because the progress would astound you, or it astounds me anyway.
Getting ready to fight. Once they started two girls were blocking my view so no action shot.
Getting ready for his board break. Again, I missed the action shot but he broke it, no problem.
The kids were called up in groups of 3 to execute their form. After the last group of 3 was called, Alex was the only kid who had not perfomed so Mr. Pettis told him he could join the final group. With full confidence, Alex said, "that's okay, I want to do it by myself." The parents immediately clapped and cheered for him. So after the final group, Alex performed alone. We turned off the camera too soon, because when he was done Mr. Pettis said he understood why he wasn't afraid to get up there on his own and complimented his stances, his power, his pace, his technique and of course his yells. My new camera takes HD video and even this 20 second video took 2 hours to load but I had to include Alex, flying solo.
Unfortunately a bunch of parents who did not pay for or even sign up for testing, brought their kids to test so they will not get their new belts until all of the belts have come in. Maybe I am mean, but I thought that those who had pre-ordered should have still got their belts but the instructors did not think it was fair to punish the kids for flakiness of the parents.
Since there were no belts, Alex did double check with Mr. Pettis after class to make sure that he passed and Mr. Pettis assured him that he was amazing.
With this new rank, Alex moves out of the basic class and in to the advanced class (back to the bottom of the heap and all new challenges) which of course required all new weapons and sparring gear because he finally gets to fight. He is so excited! I am excited because we now have every basic weapon, every advanced weapon, every leadership weapon, and all kinds of gear and uniforms so hopefully there is nothing left to buy and my poor checking account can recover from the financial crisis that is TKD.
The school also notified us that they are going to switch to just two days a week starting next session because a lot of people have indicated that 3 days a week is too much. I actually like 3 days a week, because the more days he works out at the school, the easier it is to keep him practicing and progressing at home but now we will have Fridays off, except for once a month when they will have leadership seminars or cool stuff like glow in the dark nunchuk tournaments, etc. The classes will be longer on Tuesdays and Thursdays than they were with the 3 day schedule so we actually only lose 30 minutes of training per week.
We have next week off for spring break but when we come back, new belts should be awarded and I will definitely update with a picture. Like you were worried that I wouldn't.
*Could not think of a title for this one so if you can figure out the meaning behind the title of this post, you know me really well...10 points!
5 comments:
He looked awesome!! Tell him I loved the video! I'm glad you loaded it even though it took a long time. It's really great the confidence he shows while doing his form. How great to have all the weapons too. We're just starting that train, blech.
I agree that the kids who pre-registered should have received their belts. Instead of just making those kids suffer because of their flaky parents, now all the kids have to suffer for them. That's not fair either. They try to teach these kids responsibility in TKD, and along with that they should expect more from the parents. If the parent drops the ball, the kids should know it. If you drop the ball as a parent, you're going to have to have a talk with your child and explain why. Who hasn't has to do that before about something? Anyway, I'll step down from my soap box now.
Thanks for taking the time to include the video (wow, this is a new one for me - to be the first to post on your blog ... except by the time I actually post I could easily be tenth in line ... but just so you know, when I started this I was first...hahaha). Anyway, as I was saying before I so rudely interrupted myself (bad things happen when you get older), I was so impressed with his skills. I don't know much about the rules of TKD, but he looked absolutely awesome to me so I totally believe your assessment of him.
What a fun example of how practice makes perfect, and perseverance can make every goal achievable. Love it!
I am so happy for Alex!! Audrey is inspired by this video...maybe she will follow in his footsteps.
I like the Nonnie title, haha!
Holly, Totally agree about belts. Not to be mean to the kids, but there are deadlines and consequences in life. This session was so hectic though and I think it just threw everything off. Some of the kids who did the 4 weeks free came back at the last minute and wanted to sign up for classes and test and you already know about the lost shipment of uniforms so some kids did not get their whites until testing day. So much craziness we haven't seen before so hopefully this is a one time thing.
Julie, Oh no, you ended up the second post just like you suspected. Doesn't matter. I appreciate your comments no matter where they are in the mix.
Val, I love that Audrey was mimicking Al. I hope she is a TKD girl one day, heaven knows she's tough enough. I also knew you would get the Nonnie reference. I was trying to think of a title to play off the color of his new belt like I have with past promotions and thought of how you can't see someone in camo and then thought of this song that Nonnie always danced to and had to go with it.
Way to go Alex!! He was awesome...You are not biased!
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