Black Belt Testing

Testing for your Black Belt in Taekwondo is a BIG deal.  A really big deal.  Not very many students make it to this point on their martial arts journey. Hayden has been preparing for this day for the past five years.  After a 10 page thesis on What It Means to Become a Black Belt, 25 teaching hours, learning 16 different forms, memorizing Korean terminology, and countless hours on the mat practicing Taekwondo, Hapkido, and Sparring, she was ready to show Grand Master Kim that she was worthy of the title Black Belt.  And boy, was she NERVOUS!! (and to be honest, so was I!)

There were five students testing for Black Belt, one credit testing towards their Second degree Black Belt, and one testng for their Third Degree. They ranged in age from 11 to 44 (guess who was the 11 year old?)

Pre-testing meeting

Angie giving the students a little pep talk.

Bowing in.

There were eight highly qualified examiners testing seven students!  The pressure was a little intense, as is always the case when Grand Master Kim (the founder of the Oriental Moo-Do schools and a 9th Degree Black Belt) flies in to conduct the testing each June.

Practicing kicks.  All my pictures turned out terribly because it was so hot in the dojang (close to 100 degrees) that the garage doors were open to let in some air.  The bright light really messed with the flash on my camera. I took mostly videos of the forms, sparring and breaking.

Grand Master Kim always likes to throw "surprises" at the students during testing.  One of his surprises this time was to have the students do V- Kicks, where you jump straight up in the air and try to break two boards at the same time.  They had never attempted this before, and practiced using pads.  I think most of them fell on their rear ends at least once!

Three step sparring with Kim.

One of the requirements was for each student to fight off two attackers at once during a sparring match.  Hayden was up against Mariah and Haley.

She did a great job of not letting either one of them get behind her and keeping them both together.

Hayden did a three station board break- a front snap kick, a side kick, and a back spinning hook kick.  Breaking has always been the hardest part of testing for Hayden.  She really psyches herself out and convinces herself she can't do it.  She rarely has broken the board on the first try.  Today was a different story, she was feeling confident and believed in herself.  She lined up her three board holders and broke all three boards on the first try. 

Bowing out of class at the end of the three hour testing.

OMS!!!

Later that afternoon, there was an all school picnic at the Loveland Sports Park, and Grand Master Kim wrote each student's name in Korean on the collar of their uniform.  It is always such an honor for him to come and share his time with the students at OMS.