time to learn

I always like the time right after testing. It's when we actually start learning the curriculum for the next cycle vs. practicing over and over again the stuff for the last belt test. The DVD we get each round has the usual categories on it: blocking set, kicking techniques, escrima, one step sparring, board break, kicking combinations. At the end of this quarter, we are going to have a dojang poomse competition. We will have to perform our blocking set as our official form. We're already going to be testing for stripes on the blocking set next week! I'm going to be working with my kids over the weekend to make sure we all know it.

With every cycle, we learn some knew things as well as perfecting old technique. This blocking set uses a lot of back stances, something that we didn't have much on last quarter. I've found that I can actually get into a back stance pretty easily vs. when I was first learning it. I used to constantly look at my feet for proper placement. That's the perfecting part of this cycle. The knew item is that we are throwing our middle blocks a little differently. In the past, the middle block was performed by placing your hand at your waist ("cocking it") and then bringing up the arm across the middle with your hand in a fist, palm side at your torso. The arm did not extend past your torso. In our new blocking set, we're actually turning 180 degrees from a front stance into a back stance while throwing the middle block. The palm side is facing away from the torso. It's slightly different but enough to make me pause and think as I'm doing the routine. The old method is still valid. It's just good to have a variance on the block itself. I'm not sure when you would use one technique vs. the other though.