Advancing Towards the Black Belt

Here it is, a nice moment tonight at Madison's first testing for the black belt.  There are three of these test nights, this being the first and the second in December, with the third being in March.  Tonight's went well, and you can see how nice it was to have Nana there to pull on one part of the belt, Mommy on the other side, the two of them pulling in a symbolic gesture showing who else was there along the way to be a part of the process.  

It took some effort to get Nana out on the floor, but she was happy when she was there.  It took a lot of effort to get her to taekwondo in the first place, but she was very happy to be there, once she arrived.  She had said all week that she wanted to go, and then at the last minute, she wasn't going.  So I sort of had to get on to her about that, and after a bit, she changed her mind and was out the door again.  Just like everything else we've had to convince her to go to.  

Again, when she was there for the testing, she was having a good time, engaged and watching the students spar, exercise, show off self-defense skills they've learned, and of course demonstrate their form.  As for the night itself, it's all a fairly familiar process to us by now.  Madison loves the people she's with in class, and has a great time with them each night she's there.

One consistent thing about this class has been Madison's form demonstration.  She's been spot on, and her instructors have repeatedly told me as such.  She was nervous going into tonight, although not as nervous as previously.  But despite the nervous energy, she did fantastic, and out of all the students tonight, she's the only one to get a perfect score on her testing.

At the end of class, Mr. Edge told the students that one of them got a perfect score, and after a big build-up, it was revealed to be Madison, who he had stand up for all the parents and teachers.  It was a great moment, although an embarrassing one for her.  But Nana got to see that, as did we of course.

As for the rest of the night, again, it was fairly routine for the testings.  I can't immediately tell you how many of these we've had since the first one, but they've all been a great occasion for the students.  Most of them did well tonight, and of course all of that in front of the parents and relatives who came to see their kids advance.

They start out with the stretching and the exercises, and that sort of warms everyone up.  But after that, it was time for some sparring!  Madison was up against a couple boys who were not quite at her level, and to be honest... she was fairly brutal!

She's not merciless, of course.  But this is a sparring, and she's helping these other students rise up, not by overwhelming them, but by showing them a variety of maneuvers and strikes.  This one above might have been my favorite moment of the night.  I believe this one followed a spinning kick that completely fooled her opponent.  He came forward thinking she was backing up, and suddenly there was that foot-fist-fiesta! She was attempting to throw in some variety tonight, which was easier to do.  It's good to get in that practice.

She sparred against two different boys, and she was doing very well, all this in front of Nana and Mommy, and of course myself.  I was there on the floor to take pictures of as many of the kids as I could, obviously "specializing" in photos of Madison.  She offered a lot of action shots tonight.

Here she is practicing her kicks on a cushion there.  All the kids were doing a variety of different kicks or punches, one after another.  You can see the ferocity in her face as she goes in for the attack.  There's a shout she does with each strike, one you can hear over all the others in the room.

Here's Mr. Tucker and Madison after the class tonight.  Typically, it's Mr. and Mrs. Edge, but there were a lot of students and parents and of course we had Nana with us, so we opted not to wait around for a photo. That one will come no doubt when she gets her black belt.  We had one black belt person tonight, and that was pretty great for he and his family.  What a long journey it's been, but Madison is advancing towards the black belt too.

You can see everyone clapping for her above, for her perfect score.  She's doing her best, and really passionate about it as well.  She goes three nights a week, and is intensely focused on getting that black belt.  It will be a huge moment next spring, one we're all looking forward to.

Here's tonight's class, just one of a a few different groups of advancing students.  It's great to see things alive again here at the studio, and pretty much back to where it was before.  Madison was quite pleased when it was all said and done, just relaxing a bit after all the stress and build-up beforehand.  She did well though, and we're super proud of her.

And she can definitely handle herself when facing some of the boys.  Her abilities are tremendous, and her mind is sharp.  She's come a long way, and it's quite noticeable how much she's learned and grown.  

Congratulations on your new belt.  The red one is now retired, and currently we have this black and red one that will stay with her until march.  And then she'll be a black belt, and always a black belt, having truly earned that rank here at the studio.