Longer training

The Wednesday adult class at Mitcham is now running for an hour and a half (it was an hour until recently) and I finally got along to it last night. Really good lesson - I can always tell by how much difficulty I have walking the following morning!

I was very pleased to get some heavy practice of Yuk Jang (the sixth Taegeuk pattern). It's a lot harder than I thought it would be though. The stances are quite a bit more complex than the previous patterns and my finishing position is way, way too far from my starting position. It's going to take a lot of practice to get this one right.

The origin of Teakwondo

Steve Conway mentions on his site the large number of differing way Taekwondo is spelled, in particular "Teakwondo" comes up time and time again. I've always thought this must just be a simple miss spell on the part of the people using it, but have actually found an official source for this spelling.

Page 60 of the Taekwondo Textbook (the official guide to WTF Taekwondo published by the Kukkiwan) refers to Teakwondo. I found another version on page 78 - "Thekwondo" although I've never seen anyone using that particular one and hope I never will ;)

Are you a black belt?

The first question you get asked when someone finds out you're practicing a martial art tends to be about the mythical Black Belt. Normally to try and avoid this one I just tell new people I meet that I do fitness training, rather than mentioning Taekwondo at all, but that's not always enough. People tend to find these things out and once the cat's out of the bag the question of belt colour isn't far off.

No is the reply and then comes a look of shock when I tell them how long I've been at it (it's getting close to a decade I think now). The important thing is that, to me at least IT DOESN'T MATTER all that much. If I was in it simply for a certain colour of belt I wouldn't go through all the effort, pain, sweat and tears. I'd just go out and buy the Black Belt (any sports shop will happily sell you one) and job done! Now, there may come a day, and what a day it will be, when I do reach First Dan or even beyond it. But it's not the reason I train. It shouldn't be anyones' reason to train (at least, not the ONLY reason).

I don't honestly think anyone can truly understand what it means to wear a Black Belt until they have really earned it.

Green Belt Grading

Today I am the proudest dad in the world. James took his grading for 6th Kup (Green Belt) last Saturday, and at last night squad training session in Mitcham he was awarded his Green Belt.

James took his grading among the adults, and as such was allowed to attempt his first break. Master Rose asked him to break using back kick. Unfortunately, 4 attempts were not enough and James wasn't able to break the board, however, I tried my best to assure him that since at his age breaking wasn't a required part of his grading he shouldn't worry too much about it. He did say he felt happy with his pattern (Taegeuk Sam Jang - third Poomse), his Kibom, the 3 step sparring and free sparring.

James is now just one belt behind me - better get moving and work on staying ahead or he'll be the one showing me what to do.

Well done James!

Here's a pic of his official BTCB certificate.