Um nope.
She is at the red/black level of ATA Taekwondo and tested for her full first degree black belt in November and did not pass. The silly boards would just NOT break for her. And if you're striving to be a black belt, they better break. So Novembers testing was pretty disillusioning for her.
The whole drive down to testing, Meri was between excited and depressed. I tried to lift her spirits but it was really hard to do and didn't last.
Robb and Maddy arrived and the "Let's Ditch" seat was taken, so Meri had to go sit with the rest of the kids in white coats.
Her form itself was really good, as far as I could tell. She told me later that she'd skipped a step entirely. But as our instructor says, don't even grimace! The judges just may not even notice...The sparring was good. She did lots of spins and jumps as well as taking turns with her sparring partner.
On the board breaks, I volunteered to help hold boards. Because I was wearing street clothes and not my Taekwondo uniform, other black belts kept offering to take over for me. No.. I'm ok, but thanks! The other black belt holding the board with me, knew me and chuckled about it that they didn't know I was a 2nd degree. :) Let's keep them in the dark until next testing, when I test!Meri wasn't able to break the boards on the first attempt. One broke on the second attempt. She was visibly shook and in tears. As she set the board up for a final attempt, I kept chanting softly, "turn the board, turn the board". But she was across the room and didn't hear me. She had the board turned wrong so it would be harder to break... One of the judges asked her if she had the right attitude to break it and as a tear dripped off her chin, she yelled, "Yes I do, Sir!"
Then she broke it.
We won't find out until either tonight or next Tuesday night if she gets to advance to her Black Belt for sure.
I really hope she does! My nerves can't take another testing like this...P.S. Funny side note. When getting her sparring gear together, we found that Duke, the other idiot Golden Retriever that we have, had chewed on the cuff of it. Since they're black and the inside foam pieces are yellow, it looked REALLY bad! But Robb saved the day and used a black magic marker to cover all the yellow. No one noticed! Woohoo!
13 comments:
Oh I soo hope she makes it - I remember when our sons used to test. So nerve racking. Same thing when Flyboy wrestled - he sued to throw up before every match! My nerves were a wreck too!
Leann
Congratulations to Merri!
Tell her that I'm on her side and don't think of me as a "board" if we ever meet.
Your Friend, m.
Oh, heart breaking to be so nervous and have the board not break. Aaron is a first degree black belt in karate, working toward second degree, so I know how stressful that can be...and with everyone watching. :(
I hope she gets credit and gets the belt. If not, I guess all things are learning experiences...some tougher than others. Ugh. She's a braver girl than I am, I tell you that! (And, undoubtedly tougher! I wouldn't have handled that situation as well as she did! Way to stick with it and follow through, Merri!)
I bet she makes it. And if she doesn't, she WILL the next time. Don't want her to half ass kill someone...want her to FULL ass kill someone if she has to. LOL
I hope she made it! Amazing.
And aren't black Sharpies the best?
I pray she makes it. Poor kid, that had to be so stressful.
I've saved a few black pants with a marker. Den likes when I color his pants with pink.
I hope and pray she made it. Stress for moms is so hard.
Great job Meri for getting up there and doing your best! I have no doubt she'll make it! :-) Have a great day!!
blessings,
Jill
Who needs a security system when your kid knows karate!
-Paul
www.mostlygrocery.com
Oh, I hope she makes it. You must be so proud of her!!!
Congrats Meri!
I have found that having a wide variety of permanent markers on hand has been very useful, even the black one.
I hope she passes!
Wow~ your kids can be your bodyguards!
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