One small step closer...

[JR 137]

Congratulations. I always look forward to this thread. I love the enthusiasm.

As kempodisciple said, how about some video? You had a few early on, and it would be nice to see how far you’ve come along since.

 

[Headhunter]

Got my tip tonight for my last one step sparring!!!! Now I just need to learn the last three self defense techniques and I’m DONE learning color belt curriculum. I should be testing for double black stripe this month, then start working on my black belt test, which will be this year. It will be the schools first black belt testing so I likely will be waiting on others to be ready before I can test but it will be this year...crazy.


We have an intern master here for a couple months and she’s just great. I am loving having someone else to learn from (and teach English haha..fortunately I’ve learned enough Korean that we have to problems communicating if we keep it simple).

Congratulations

 

[serietah]

Man we cannot find the video from the last belt testing. I'll have to just have someone record me doing Taegeuk 7 and/or 8 and post that. Friday night we learned the LAST thing of color belt curriculum. The very last self defense technique. I now officially know our entire color belt curriculum: 9 forms, 27 one-step sparring techniques, and and 18 self defense techniques. Belt testing will be on January 26, then it will be a LONG time of reviewing for black belt test while I wait on others to catch up and be ready.

 

[serietah]

I got my double black stripe belt last night! I will share the video with you guys when it's ready. I was one of four students to get all As during testing, so I'm pretty proud of myself. Next testing will be just to check forms at random in preparation for black belt testing.

 

[JR 137]

I got my double black stripe belt last night! I will share the video with you guys when it's ready. I was one of four students to get all As during testing, so I'm pretty proud of myself. Next testing will be just to check forms at random in preparation for black belt testing.

Congratulations! Enjoy the journey. It’ll probably seem like forever between now and black belt while you’re into it, but after it’s all said and done, it’ll seem like it was just yesterday when you first learned how to tie your white belt.

 

[Gerry Seymour]

I got my double black stripe belt last night! I will share the video with you guys when it's ready. I was one of four students to get all As during testing, so I'm pretty proud of myself. Next testing will be just to check forms at random in preparation for black belt testing.

Congrats!

 

[_Simon_]

I got my double black stripe belt last night! I will share the video with you guys when it's ready. I was one of four students to get all As during testing, so I'm pretty proud of myself. Next testing will be just to check forms at random in preparation for black belt testing.

Ah congratulations, that's awesome . Enjoy the journey, it's really refreshing and great to hear how much you're loving training. That's so important I've found, keep it up! And keep us posted on how you're going would love to see a vid too! I reckon that's a great idea actually for members to post vids, takes alot of courage to put yourself out there, I really respect that. I reckon I might put some forms and drills up soon I reckon..

 

[Swagmaster2993]

Got my tip tonight for my last one step sparring!!!! Now I just need to learn the last three self defense techniques and I’m DONE learning color belt curriculum. I should be testing for double black stripe this month, then start working on my black belt test, which will be this year. It will be the schools first black belt testing so I likely will be waiting on others to be ready before I can test but it will be this year...crazy.


We have an intern master here for a couple months and she’s just great. I am loving having someone else to learn from (and teach English haha..fortunately I’ve learned enough Korean that we have to problems communicating if we keep it simple).

Nice Job!!

 

[serietah]

So the form video is ready, I just don't have a copy yet so I will get around to posting it hopefully soon, but I did break a board with a flying side kick for the first time tonight. We are going to a tournament Saturday and the breaking is assigned based on which form you're doing, so that's my assigned technique. I wasn't excited about it until I practiced with a foam target yesterday and figured out I am kicking a lot higher than I thought. So tonight after class we got out a real board and tried it. It wasn't great, but it's "enough".

So here's my terrible flying side kick, haha. I need to work on...flying more. My "run" is pretty slow, but I was focused on making my steps light so that I could jump (I have always been bad at jumping, even as a scrawny child). I was pleased that my arms didn't fly around too wildly, though I would prefer to have them in the proper position. I only have a couple of days to practice before the tournament, so I'm not expecting miracles. I just want to do my best and hopefully bring home a shiny medal for my form. If the judges don't laugh at my breaking, I'll be happy lol.

 

[_Simon_]

So the form video is ready, I just don't have a copy yet so I will get around to posting it hopefully soon, but I did break a board with a flying side kick for the first time tonight. We are going to a tournament Saturday and the breaking is assigned based on which form you're doing, so that's my assigned technique. I wasn't excited about it until I practiced with a foam target yesterday and figured out I am kicking a lot higher than I thought. So tonight after class we got out a real board and tried it. It wasn't great, but it's "enough".

So here's my terrible flying side kick, haha. I need to work on...flying more. My "run" is pretty slow, but I was focused on making my steps light so that I could jump (I have always been bad at jumping, even as a scrawny child). I was pleased that my arms didn't fly around too wildly, though I would prefer to have them in the proper position. I only have a couple of days to practice before the tournament, so I'm not expecting miracles. I just want to do my best and hopefully bring home a shiny medal for my form. If the judges don't laugh at my breaking, I'll be happy lol.

Ah that's awesome, great work! I reckon you did a great job, I've never had the opportunity to do that, would have been a great feeling! It did break so you must have done it right . Would love to see your form vid too.

Best of luck for the tournament, relax and breathe and you'll do fine. Just focus on what you need to do and enjoy

 

[TrueJim]

There's a lot to like in that side kick. The most impressive part of your kick, in my opinion, is the extent to which you were able to bend the jumping leg underneath you as you kicked. Arguably this is the most difficult part of this kick: the more bend, the better. Also, the precision with which you hit the board was nice: your kicking foot hit dead-center on the board. Your torso is facing the board more than one might like to see (rather than being turned more to the side) but I think that's actually the easiest part of the kick to fix (it's all about turning sideways as you spring off the jumping leg). Bottom line: at our age group, as a beginner to this kick, I'd call this excellent. If you kick this well at the tournament, nobody will be laughing.

 

[serietah]

Thank you!! We actually have a jumping side kick (just one step) as part of blue belt curriculum and tucking the back leg is one of the main things we practice. It’s what I think of most when practicing this flying kick.

Your kind words mean the world to me! I practiced more tonight, and actually put a couple big kicking targets down and jumped over them. I’m feeling much more confident now!

I will practice more tomorrow and focus on my upper body some more. Can’t wait til I can report tournament results to you guys Saturday!

 

[serietah]

You guys are not going to believe this...not only did I get first place in forms, but I also got first place in breaking! My competition for both consisted of teenagers, two of whom were on the demo teams that competed. There were about 40 total doing Taegeuk 8 and we went in groups of 4, each group getting 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place awarded, so kind of everyone was a winner. The ages ranged from 9 and up and we weren't really grouped by age very well as they were trying not to let two people from the same school compete directly with each other. The judge for our court told us all to yell loud for extra points, be sharp, etc. I was really surprised at how many people either didn't yell at all when they were supposed to, or were so quiet there's no way the judges could hear. When it was my turn, I yelled like I normally do and got an instant smile and nod of approval from the main judge. We had to turn our backs to the judge for scoring, but my mom could see so I know I got a perfect 10. WOW!!!

For breaking, our group was taking longest so they took some of us to another court to speed things along. I was nervous because it was a new group of judges. They asked which leg I wanted to kick with, set up, and said "kicking stance". My response? Yelled so loud my master (the intern) could hear me from the court where she was judging. She told me later that she though "Oh that's 'serietah'" because she recognized my yell haha. All of the judges verbally expressed their approval of my kihap. I yelled again right before running, when I broke the board (first try!), and then went into kicking stance again facing the judges with a final yell. Got an 8.5. I didn't see them score anyone higher in the short time I was there.

So first tournament was a success! Several of my students got 1st and 2nd place in their forms and breaking. My mom and aunt actually ended up getting to compete against each other and tied for first in both forms and breaking. Now I am EXHAUSTED and about to go to bed early lol.

 

[_Simon_]

You guys are not going to believe this...not only did I get first place in forms, but I also got first place in breaking! My competition for both consisted of teenagers, two of whom were on the demo teams that competed. There were about 40 total doing Taegeuk 8 and we went in groups of 4, each group getting 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place awarded, so kind of everyone was a winner. The ages ranged from 9 and up and we weren't really grouped by age very well as they were trying not to let two people from the same school compete directly with each other. The judge for our court told us all to yell loud for extra points, be sharp, etc. I was really surprised at how many people either didn't yell at all when they were supposed to, or were so quiet there's no way the judges could hear. When it was my turn, I yelled like I normally do and got an instant smile and nod of approval from the main judge. We had to turn our backs to the judge for scoring, but my mom could see so I know I got a perfect 10. WOW!!!

For breaking, our group was taking longest so they took some of us to another court to speed things along. I was nervous because it was a new group of judges. They asked which leg I wanted to kick with, set up, and said "kicking stance". My response? Yelled so loud my master (the intern) could hear me from the court where she was judging. She told me later that she though "Oh that's 'serietah'" because she recognized my yell haha. All of the judges verbally expressed their approval of my kihap. I yelled again right before running, when I broke the board (first try!), and then went into kicking stance again facing the judges with a final yell. Got an 8.5. I didn't see them score anyone higher in the short time I was there.

So first tournament was a success! Several of my students got 1st and 2nd place in their forms and breaking. My mom and aunt actually ended up getting to compete against each other and tied for first in both forms and breaking. Now I am EXHAUSTED and about to go to bed early lol.

Oh WOW congratulations!!! That's so awesome to hear . Yeah it's amazing how unexpected the day can go, but you trained hard for it and that's fantastic news, well done . You've caught the tournament bug I'm sure

 

[serietah]

It’s been a long time since I posted. I really really need to get you guys a form video now. Over the past couple of months, I have been reviewing Taegeuk 1-8 and working on details while others work on relearning the forms. In order to test for black belt, we have to do two maintenance tests, each with forms selected at random. There are also two 2 hour classes required. In order to be approved for the maintenance test, you have to get a tip in class for passing three random forms.

Today my master asked me if I wanted to wait for the others or just do my maintenance tests when I’m ready. I told him I will respect his judgement for when I’m ready, but I would love to test when I’m ready. So tonight during adult class, he surprised me with a tip test. I did Taegeuk 3, 7, and 8. I passed! I’m now approved for the first maintenance test, which I’ll probably do in May. Technically I could do it next Friday, but I’m fine with waiting since this was last minute.

I’m so happy! I’ve worked so hard lately. My side kicks are looking so much better. I’ve fixed so many small issues and really improved. It’s been hard, and repetitive but I’m proud of myself.

 

[Monkey Turned Wolf]

Break a leg! (Hopefully not your own)

 

[JR 137]

Still my favorite thread here.

 

[_Simon_]

It’s been a long time since I posted. I really really need to get you guys a form video now. Over the past couple of months, I have been reviewing Taegeuk 1-8 and working on details while others work on relearning the forms. In order to test for black belt, we have to do two maintenance tests, each with forms selected at random. There are also two 2 hour classes required. In order to be approved for the maintenance test, you have to get a tip in class for passing three random forms.

Today my master asked me if I wanted to wait for the others or just do my maintenance tests when I’m ready. I told him I will respect his judgement for when I’m ready, but I would love to test when I’m ready. So tonight during adult class, he surprised me with a tip test. I did Taegeuk 3, 7, and 8. I passed! I’m now approved for the first maintenance test, which I’ll probably do in May. Technically I could do it next Friday, but I’m fine with waiting since this was last minute.

I’m so happy! I’ve worked so hard lately. My side kicks are looking so much better. I’ve fixed so many small issues and really improved. It’s been hard, and repetitive but I’m proud of myself.

Ah wow that's fantastic, WELL DONE! You've worked hard for this, congrats, please keep us posted

Still my favorite thread here.

I really enjoy it too

 

[Gerry Seymour]

It’s been a long time since I posted. I really really need to get you guys a form video now. Over the past couple of months, I have been reviewing Taegeuk 1-8 and working on details while others work on relearning the forms. In order to test for black belt, we have to do two maintenance tests, each with forms selected at random. There are also two 2 hour classes required. In order to be approved for the maintenance test, you have to get a tip in class for passing three random forms.

Today my master asked me if I wanted to wait for the others or just do my maintenance tests when I’m ready. I told him I will respect his judgement for when I’m ready, but I would love to test when I’m ready. So tonight during adult class, he surprised me with a tip test. I did Taegeuk 3, 7, and 8. I passed! I’m now approved for the first maintenance test, which I’ll probably do in May. Technically I could do it next Friday, but I’m fine with waiting since this was last minute.

I’m so happy! I’ve worked so hard lately. My side kicks are looking so much better. I’ve fixed so many small issues and really improved. It’s been hard, and repetitive but I’m proud of myself.

Congratulations! Keep up the hard work. I love it when a student is more than ready for a test they don't know is coming.

 

[serietah]

You guys are the best. It’s crazy to think you’ve all been following my journey for two years. Only about 7 months til black belt. Phew...