Today I passed my second rank exam in TaeKwonDo with Ian. We both spent three hours proving that we are worthy to wear the next color in line, orange for me and green for Ian. I'll post photos when I get them, but with wife out of town and camera in for repair, I was lucky to have a brother in law snapping a few photos at the beginning, and the photos are not voluminous in number.
Few things make a father so proud as seeing his son face a tough challenge and master it. I saw that in Ian today. This morning he woke up with the vestiges of a viral infection that left him aching all over, particularly in the legs. With minimal (for him) grousing, he got himself up and going and to the test. He probably could have convinced me to ask for a reschedule but he didn't.
The rank exam consisted of five components: techniques, forms, self defense, sparring, and breaking. The techniques (outer knife-hand block, e.g.) were not a big problem, nor were the forms (the martial arts version of a dance routine, only using the aforementioned techniques).
Self-defense and sparring were a different story, however. For the self-defense portion, we made a line of all eleven of the students testing and took turns being attacked. Based on rank we had to demonstrate defense against various levels of attack. At the orange belt level, Ian had to demonstrate how to get out of single and double handed wrist-grabs, and single and double handed lapel grabs. Although at his level, some of the counter-strikes use pulled punches, several of his techniques require him to get his attacker to "tap out," where he inflicts enough pain to make the attacker tap his leg, the martial arts equivalent of crying "uncle." For a little guy up against an adult, this is physically and emotionally draining.
Sparring, too, was a big challenge. In sparring, you are expected to show control and avoidance with those of lower rank, dominance of those of equal rank, and demonstrate your best techniques and combinations against those of higher rank. That means that Ian had to spar for four rounds of three minutes, once against a yellow belt, once against another orange belt, and two rounds against the black belts. By the end of his third round, he was wiped out and frustrated by his inability to land kicks on his instructor (3rd-degree black belt) and still had to face Oki, the 4th-degree black belt, who is the master of dodging kicks. I watched him fight back tears of exhaustion and frustration, pull himself together, and give it his best shot, which was not that bad. I managed to land only one or two kicks on Oki myself, which was considered to be a major accomplishment. He is fiendishly difficult to keep in range.
Finally, board breaking, which has never been a problem for Ian, was not a problem. He placed a perfectly aimed side kick right into the middle of his board and broke it on the first try. (I had to use the same technique on a much bigger board and finally broke it on my third try. The psychology of board breaking is pretty intense.)
Sweaty and exhausted, we earned our promotions. In the school tradition, the senior ranking student gets to chose the venue for the celebratory post-exam lunch. Today, the senior student was unable to attend, so the choice fell to Ian, who chose Waterloo Ice House, where the burgers are wonderful and they serve tater-tots or french fries.
What a great day!
Now, I'm tired, my body is sore, and I'm going to sleep.
Thanks for reading.
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