Last night I mentally prepared myself for my evaluation test to gaining my blue belt.
I was alone doing my test as I missed the day where the others of the same grade were doing it. I had to make sure I knew everything to a T.
Doing it with the others is much easier than doing it alone. If you forget something, you see the others doing it and you are reminded of what you need to do.
Being alone needed high concentration. I had to remember everything I did from the beginning. It was a struggle for me as with our instructor, we moved more towards advancing on our learning more than we did practicing what he had already learned. Naturally but that also meant that the basics was starting to be forgotten. For me anyways.
I did a lot of breathing to keep me steady, to keep on knowing my next moves and trying not to get confused as I see the other people doing their training (that one has always got to me. I can't look at the people or I screw up what I am doing lol.) I made a few mistakes but I was given the chance to start over again, but acknowledging my mistakes helped me perfect my moves once more.
The challenge!
The challenge in my test was one that I have never had yet. I was being evaluated by a different person instead of my original instructor so this was quite different for. Everyone learns and teaches differently.
It was a speed test. She was evaluating me on capability to self defend as if I were being attacked on the streets. She had me to my techniques normally, and then I had to do some at the speed she was calling them out.
I must say, that was really fun! I would do it again!
The results...
I have to practice my earlier basic techniques. I'm not bad at it, but there is room for improvement. I need to practice some choreographies for the same reason.
For the speed test. I am better at going fast than I am when I am slow. Meaning that I have better muscle memory than I do when I let my brain do the thinking on my movements. I block at certain things and take more time to think then if I were to just let my body do what I have to. That is key. So I am pretty proud of myself on that part _
At the end I got my blue belt :D YAY!
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I was disappointed that I did not get the chance to break my board. I have an injury to my ankle and they have decided to wait for it to heal more to do this. The first board I broked was with a palm hit, this one is with a kick. Trust me, I would have done it yesterday because I was excited to do it but I would have paid for it. It is their way of taking care of me.
In Kuk Sool we are all family.
Evaluator on the left, me in the middle, master instructor,Ji-doh Kwahn Jahng Nim, Mr. Normand Larocque. The certificate, I noticed, has an earlier date written on it. The first date for the evaluations was the 19th of February. That is the one I missed. I had to wait for all the others to have their evaluation plus the march break weekend when there was no Kuk Sool.
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Please don't mind what I look like. It was after doing my evaluation... I was pooped and not looking like my best lol
The 10 principles of martial arts are:
- Balance
- Take your time
- Think about what you are doing when you move
- Feel you movements
- Apply the rules: Stop and restart; speed is strength and strength is speed
- Complete your movements and your stances
- Always have your basic stance (Jah Seh)
- Core balance
- Speed
- Strength
_Speed and strength are to be expressed without emotion_
Through concentration, nothing is impossible!