Brielle and Ronan blog: Yellow belts

After about three months of Taekwondo lessons, we and Brielle went through testing and earned our yellow belts!

Next comes orange, then green then...several other colors before black. We're not in a hurry - we're having a great time. It's really exciting to have a regular family activity that's fun and healthy (and very challenging!). Maybe someday Ronan will join us. You have to be four years old to get into Brielle's "Tiny Tigers" class, so unfortunately he'll have to wait a little while.

The dojang's testing for all belt levels was on Saturday, April 19th. However, Master Ha allowed me and Kraig to do our testing right after our lesson the day before. This allowed us to relax and watch Brielle's testing (and take pictures/videos) the next day. In our testing, we had to demonstrate some movement routines we had learned, perform certain kicks, speak some words in Korean, do sit-ups and push-ups, and break a wooden board. In class, we only practiced hitting plastic boards (and only once or twice), so I was shocked when he brought out a real wood board that was almost an inch thick. I thought there was no way I could break it, but I tried my best and hit it really hard, and it actually broke! Here's a re-enactment...

Here's what the room looked like for Brielle's testing (she's third from the left). It looked quite intimidating, with the three black-belt-level judges calling on the kids to perform certain actions, count in Korean, or recite information about Taekwondo philosophy or other rules for behavior. For example, Brielle was asked about "good habits", and she had to say, "I will wash my hands, Sir. I will eat my vegetables, Sir. I will brush my teeth, Sir. I will go to bed, Sir." We've never seen Brielle in a public performance situation like this and had no idea if she was nervous or not. Apparently she wasn't (and later said it was easy). Phew! We were relieved that Master Ha let us test the day before so that we weren't the only two adults out there with all the kids during their test.

Brielle demonstrates her axe kick...

Brielle did a fantastic job. She's really focused and really does seem to have a natural talent for it. The audience of parents broke their silence and clapped for her during the testing, probably because she's the youngest one there (and looks so darn cute). When we got home, we rewarded her with a Korean flag mug. She's been really into drawing the flag on her artwork.

Brielle actually got a belt that's white with a yellow stripe, which is the kid version of a yellow belt and has requirements that are a little less stringent. However, Master Ha plans to go ahead and prepare her for the real (adult) yellow belt rather than the orange stripe belt because he thinks she's ready to do it.

As you may have noticed, this room has become a combination classic arcade game room / disco / Taekwondo dojang. Who saw that coming? With the large mirror and new thick mats on the floor, it's become the perfect place to practice Taekwondo, dance, or just roll around together. We try to practice together between classes (or at least stretch our sore muscles) when we get a chance.

Ronan gets really excited when Brielle practices her moves. He wants to copy her and kick the targets just like his older sister does. His little leg goes into the air and he yells, "Hi-ya!"