Theme words - Goal Setting

The orange belt theme word was Goal Setting. By sheer coincidence, this also coincides with the time when people are supposed to be committing to the Black Belt Club.

I'm all for setting goals and trying to accomplish them. The dojang had an interesting way of setting the goal to become a black belt. Master Lee gave us these "black belts" with an orange stripe down the middle. In reality, we were orange belts. However, throughout the dojang, we were supposed to be treated like we were black belts. This includes people bowing to us. At first, people saw the belts and we did get the bow treatment. It was a little disconcerting. I think this is part of my American cultural bias. However, I believe that word spread through the dojang and people caught on. It died off after a while.

We were also supposed to act like black belts with our attitude and how we treated others....including an "indomitable spirit". I made sure that both me and my kids were doing everything as properly as we could. I would harass my oldest into being more assertive. My youngest into focusing more. Myself into trying to remember all the techniques and steps.

He also addressed us parents and told us that if we were to ever see our kids not acting like black belts, to report them and he would take the special belt away and replace it with a normal orange belt. I used this threat several times on my kids when they would start acting up and it generally got them in line. Did I ever follow through with the threat? No. Should I have? Maybe.

I explained all this to my TKD buddy at work. He gave me the raised eyebrow look. I think he was offended that I would be wearing anything that remotely resembled a black belt. I can understand that completely. A black belt is not to be taken lightly. I convinced myself that the big orange stripe down the middle of it really meant it wasn't real.

Theme words - Enthusiasm

The yellow belt theme word is enthusiasm. The motivational poster on the wall defined it as "Sharing your excitement with others." Examples they gave were about actively participating in class, kihaping (yelling) loudly, and arriving 5 minutes early to class among others. The cynic in me leads me to think that the unspoken example is "tell your friends about how much you love taekwondo so they'll sign up with us." The best and final example they actually gave in class: "Do your best in everything you do." We try to teach this to our kids in almost every situation. We don't care how well they do, we just want them to give it their best effort.

My daughters have opposite personalities. My oldest is pretty reserved and quiet while my youngest shows no restraint in her emotions, both up and down. For the longest time in the classes, I would listen for my oldest daughter's kihap when she was kicking and I could tell that she wasn't even opening her mouth. Usually, she was in line right next to me as we were practicing. A simple "hand behind my ear, I can't hear you" would get her to at least say it. The instructors picked up on it and started calling out individual people to be the only ones kihaping. My daughter is actually pretty loud when she wants to be and everyone could hear her when it was her turn.

The best and final example they actually gave in class: "Do your best in everything you do." We try to teach this to our kids in almost every situation. We don't care how well they do, we just want them to try to do their best. While my daughter was a yellow belt, we ran into a situation where it was obvious she was just doing partial effort. I won't reveal details as they aren't important. As discipline though, I had her look up the definition of enthusiasm. I found one that matched the "doing your best" example and had her write it 25 times. I then had a discussion with her on what I was trying to teach her. Part of that discussion involved a warning to her that if I saw her giving partial efforts, I would talk to Master Lee about it. A very likely consequence is a demotion, even if it is in situations not directly involving taekwondo like school work or chores.

The immediate result was an increase in the level of "enthusiasm". It has carried forward to this day but every once in a while, I do have to remind both of my kids about doing their best. A gentle reminder about having a "black belt attitude" is enough to get the point across.

Green Belt Promotion

We went to our first class after the test tonight. When we take the test, we don't actually get the new belt right then. The next time we come to class, after the stretching and warmups, they do the "belt ceremony". This involves each person removing their current belt, coming up to the front of the class, and then having the instructor tie on our new belt. Lots of clapping and some ceremony (cheriut, kung-yay, clap, clap, clap, high-five). The whole ceremony time probably took about 10 minutes of class time with all the people getting their belts.

When coming to the front of the class, we must take a step backwards and run behind the line we are in and around the side to the front of the class. It is very disrespectful to cut through the lines.

The instructor then started us out on a "back to basics" instruction with our blocking techniques. I believe this is in preparation for our first Taeguk form: Tae Guk Il Jang (which I believe translates first but not 1 when counting out loud). I'm also guessing that the testers saw something in the tests for the classes. He started stressing that we needed to break some bad habits now otherwise we will have a lot of difficulty when we reach black belt testing. He really focused on our stances tonight. I've actually been pretty good at my front stance but I do have issues with my back stance. I don't get my back knee bent very well and I twist my torso a little bit.

We followed up with "promise sparring" and then our next eskrima stick routine. Promise Sparring is "fake sparring" where we "promise" not to hit each other or do shots to the head. We don't wear any protection. It gives us a feel for sparring w/o any real risks.

One cool aspect of my dojang is that they provide a DVD for each belt level. We got it at the end of our test and I've already watched it. The Tae Guk Il Jang form is on it. Additionally, all the other "types" of training (blocking set, kicking technique, combinations, kicking set, board break, one step sparring, eskrima technique) that we had for the previous belts but different for our new belt level. Everything seems just a notch more complicated. On my first viewing, I was a little overwhelmed by watching the DVD. However, I watched it again with my daughter and she started breaking it down into what all the steps were. It seemed easier after seeing it through her viewpoint.

The One True Brace Form

If you're a nerd, you get the reference. If not, just think of all those "religious arguments" you get into.

The first couple of weeks of TKD, I couldn't figure out how to tie the belt. I found this: the one true belt tieing method. The test from my Master: "Does it look like a fortune cookie?". My coworker told me he did it differently and that I was wrong.

The Orange Rush

Not to be confused with the Orange Crush, or this one, or this one.

Once we had our yellow belts, we didn't have them very long. It took us 7 weeks to get our yellow belts. Another 6 weeks and we were testing again. We were learning a lot more this time. It was a bit of a whirlwind tour. The reason for the rush was to get us on a schedule with the rest of the dojang and it's quarterly testing schedules. However, when testing time came, we didn't feel quite so comfortable with everything we had learned. I know I messed up once or twice in the actual test. We certainly didn't have the terminology down pat either. Or, it may have been just nerves in that this time, my mom was actually in the back of the room watching me. Never mind the fact that I'm near 40. (ok...I jest)

At the time of the test, I specifically kept wondering if we were being slighted by testing so quick. In hindsight, I don't believe that is the case. We did know everything. We just weren't perfect at it..,,,well with the exception of the blocking set which we rehearsed ad-nauseum for the competition.

Our next belt test is in a couple weeks. As evidenced by the stripes, I'm already ready for it. It will have been a full 3 months by the time this test rolls around.

Yet another oddness: When I heard the term "Yellow Belt Test", I thought that I would be testing in order to get the Yellow Belt. It's actually the opposite of that. I was testing that I have passed the Yellow Belt curriculum and after the test I will get my orange belt.

Stripes 2

The actual stripes I'm talking about:

Exactly what colored belts are there?

Invariably, whenever I bring up Taekwondo to someone, they always ask "What belt are you?" I tell them and they really have no idea what it really means because they always follow up with...."Uhh...what are the belts?" The best I've been able to figure out is that there are several types of Taekwondo organizations. My dojang follows the one that is closely associated with the Olympics....the Kukkiwon in Korea. Note that the Kukkiwon and the Olympics are 2 separate organizations but they do appear to have close ties to each other.

However, the Kukkiwon affiliation doesn't really mean anything with respect to the colored belts. You can go from one Kukkiwon affiliated place to another and the colored belts could be completely different in color. Black belts and above seem to be more standardized. For colored belts, there is a "Gup" system. I can take my Gup certificate to any Kukkiwon affiliated dojang and get whatever belt they have that represents that Gup.

But, for future reference as I write in this blog, my dojang has the following belts: white, yellow, orange, green, purple, blue, blue senior, brown, brown senior, red, red senior, red executive, and cho dan bo.

That is the order I would progress through them. "cho dan bo" means "black belt candidate" the best I can tell. If I were to keep on pace, I would progress through the belts at 1 a quarter until I get to red executive. Red executive is a 6 month stint. The "cho dan bo" is 14 weeks. There is no guarantee that I or my kids will stay on pace though. If you aren't ready to progress, you don't get to take the test.

So....if you're doing the math, you're looking at about 3 1/2 years to become a black belt provided you stay on track.