TKD in the park: a good day for a test...

Today it was finally time for me to take my next grading for Tae Kwon-Do. I received my Red Belt in May of last year, and was well over due for my test: November through March I was out with the flu & Pneumonia, then work kept me away until I realized it was goofy to ignore my exercise in favour of a project that was going down the toilet. Anyway, it was time to test. I've been cramming for a couple of weeks, spending all the time I could memorizing the stuff I needed to know, and practising until the neural pathways go used to the motions. And trying to remember to lean more, to get the kicks higher.

So in the park, where we hold classes on nice Saturdays in Summer, I took my test. All went very well. My overall mark as 90.7%. Which means that to date, every test I've taken has been between 90 and 95. which has been enought to "double" each time, effectively skipping a level in the belt progression. The rules for black belt are clear: no one may double (or triple) to black. You MUST take the black belt test from the black stripe. This meant that there was no pressure at all to get a high mark: only a pass, which is 70%.

Breaking has been my nemesis (no Lorne, not Nemasis, as in "Nemasis and MacBeth". You think we'd forgotten?) I've been stonewalled in two of the last three Stampede Parade demonstrations, missing my breaks and wounding my ego. And the last test day, I missed my big flying side kick over people into boards. The fact that I could get a ZERO on my brekaing and still pass my test kept me from being disillusioned. However, I persisted, and got the knife hand through 2 boards, the side kick through 3, the flying side kick through 2, a palm heel through one, and the back kick through one. I missed the jumping front snap kick through 2, as it is, well, impossible.

Here's the series of the more spectacular flying side kick:
And in the end, I received my Black Stripe, and got a great pile of firewood, split by brute force! Admittedly, I'm tired.