Battlescars...

Rawr! Just got back from my Tai Kwon Do final. The only person this quarter to test for and pass for two belts. I'm now officially a Cho Rok Dee(green belt) of the Choi Tai Kwon Do school of Martial arts.

Honestly I was scared to death. Passing for green belt requires quite a few things. You have to know both the yellow and green belt poomse(forms/kata) which, if you don't know what forms are, are a series of moves designed to simulate taking on various attacks from every direction. They're my favorite part of the sport and I was totally ready for them. To test for each belt you must learn at least one new one as well as be able to repeat all your old ones. Higher belts often learn two or three new poomse to advance.

Also, each level comes with certain one step defensive moves that you must learn. Each is designed to respond to a basic punch or kick from your opponent. For instance; A3, one of the 9 you must know to pass to yellow belt, delivers a knife hand block to the opponents punching wrist while at the same time delivering a knife hand to their throats. Green belts add on 5 more one steps including two that require you to actually drop your opponent to the floor before delivering the final blow. Also a very fun part of the class.

Then of course there's your knowledge of the basic foot and hand attacks as well as all the blocks and stances required for the next belt. Fairly basic stuff. After that comes full contact sparring with two opponents of your level. You fight for 2 minutes using every kick, punch, or block you know of and are graded on your technique, not how many hits you land. Sparring is my weakest area honestly. I'm naturally more prone to defensive measures which means TKD isn't really my thing. It would suit me much more to take Aikido or Hapkido as those center on blocking or redirecting your opponents attacks. But thanks to two quarters of class i've become more bold and much more confidant in my offensive abilities.

Next comes a test on your vocabulary, which is all in korean. Difficult but not overly so. After hearing the teacher's instructions day after day in korean it gets well ingrained in your system. Unless you're not paying attention in class like alot of the white belts were. Many had a very difficult time answering correctly. Some were so far off the mark they were told to go sit down and wait to come back up and try again.

And finally there was breaking. This was the part I was scared about. For green belt and up you are required to break pine boards. Guys are required to break 3 and girls 2. Again as you move upwards your number of boards increases. This was the first time i'd broken boards and frankly it was easier then i'd imagined. It did take me a couple tries to break the board with my knife hand, its still hurting now, but my front kick and step side kick went through after only two tries each! Thats pretty good for someone completely new to breaking like I was.

I didn't come away without injuries though. I got a nasty 5 inch friction burn on my left arm during sparring from blocking a kick but with the fluids pumping like they were I didn't notice till nearly five minutes after the fact. I also knocked my left leg muscle pretty hard when I roundhouse kicked my opponent and he blocked. Gonna be walkin funny for a couple days. Then of course my right hand hurts because of the repeated attempts to break my first board.

But despite all that I came away with a B in the class and my 2 new belts. I'm so happy! I'm even thinking about taking another term of this. I must be crazy.