Alex Johnson, Black Belt

I'd be surprised if anyone is even still checking here anymore, and I am sure you all thought I had left for good. So did I, actually. But without the blog I never write anything down and I even forget to take pictures these days so I thought I would try to at least scrape together some of the highlights of the last 6 months for journaling purposes.

One super fun event that I failed to post about this summer was Alex becoming a black belt in TaeKwonDo!

He attended black belt boot camp, which was an intense week. They worked out for several hours each day to get ready to test. I knew he would pass his forms, sparring, and weapons, but the fitness test and board breaks had us a little worried. One of the breaks was a reverse hook and it is tricky. If they don't get it in 3 shots they do not get any points, but thankfully he managed it in one shot, and took two shots on the one he usually does in his sleep, but that was still 2.5/3 overall for breaks. For the fit test they have to get 300 moves in 5 minutes. They do one minute of push ups, one minute of sit ups, one minute of punches, one minute of kicks, and one minute of combos (two punches and a kick count as one move for combos). If they do not get 300 total, they do not pass. On the first day of camp he got 120ish so he had his work cut out for him, but on testing day he beat it by 80 plus moves. Phew! He is also usually a bit passive at sparring...he defends but does not attack...but on testing day he went in to beast mode. We were cracking up. In the end he passed with an 8.5/10 overall.

We are so proud of Alex! He started this crazy endeavor when he was just 6 years old and in 3 1/2 years he never once complained about going to class or tried to quit. For some time now I could tell he wasn't interested anymore, but he had committed to get a black belt and he stuck with it. Sadly, we are hanging up the weapons for awhile now. We had been having some issues with the TKD school for awhile. Mr. Pettis left our campus to teach exclusively out of Milwaukee and Alex hated to see him go. After that point they were basically learning the same things over and over again. Most of Alex's friends quit, but he hung in there even though he wasn't making any real progress anymore. Then we were just informed that they will no longer be teaching at the Recplex, but at the Boys and Girls Club, on different nights than we are used to. To make that work I would have to change dance and skating days for the girls as well so we decided to move on. It is really unfortunate, because what started so strong turned into a big mess by the end, but I will always be grateful that we found TKD when we did and so we leave with much gratitude and no hard feelings. I kind of hope that he will start up again at another school, or in another martial arts discipline at some point, but for now he is signed up for Art classes and he is excited to try something new.

Testing Day
 
My mom happened to be in town for a Conference for her work that week. She finished up the morning he tested so we picked her up in Milwaukee just in time for testing. 
 
Mr. Pettis
 
Mrs. Garza, who now runs our local Victory Campus
 
Alex tested with our friend Emma from church, which was a lifesaver because I was training for work that week so he rode up to Milwaukee with Emma in the morning and I picked them up each afternoon. Alyssa was at Girls Camp that week so I also had to find help for Chloe. Thankfully another friend from church happened to be in her swimming class, and when I saw that I hurried over and worked out carpooling/babysitting arrangements. Thanks goodness for friends! 
 
Black Belt Ceremony (later in the summer)








 
Miss R. Garza who is teaching the kids this year


 
Miss K. Garza who has now gone to college but taught Alex's class all last year while her mom was busy beating cancer.


 

Unfortunately I do not even have a single picture of Alex wearing his belt. He wore it to class for the past several months but he needed new whites so I was waiting to buy his new uniform so I could take him to get professional shots done. Now I will not be buying new whites so I may never get that shot. But he has a gorgeous official framed certificate in his room and every single belt he has ever earned in a case, and we are extremely proud of what he accomplished.