Joseph tested for his black belt in taekwondo tonight! After 3.5 YEARS, he has finally reached the major goal — his black belt! He’s very excited about it, a bit bittersweet — as he is going to take a break for a while, and ready for some dirt biking — once the cast comes off of course! 😉
Joseph’s biggest hang up has been finishing his forms. He knows them. I watched him practice during two private lessons and he did them both by himself. But once in a group, the “distraction” of everyone else throws him off. He did a lot of watching others, but got through it without a fit of tears or stopping in frustration. That’s a HUGE step for him!
Then he moved on to sparring. His glove won’t fit over his cast, so he wore only one glove. It was non-contact sparring, so no touching anyway. But he did a LOT of blocking with his left hand.
And then the final test — breaking his two boards. The first was an elbow strike. Because he is dominant with his left, and his left is broken, Mr. Changho specifically asked him to break with his right elbow. That’s hard!! But he did it!
And the final break was his running, jump, side kick. Joseph tried and tried and tried this early on and couldn’t get it. I was there one day and I saw him trying to kick with his right leg! I said “Joseph, kick with your LEFT!”. He did and the rest is history. It’s the BEST break he does.
And then the big moment. He got his belt!
Of course the “after party” was at McDonalds. 😉