What you get when you pass a taekwondo black belt test

Last week I picked up my taekwondo black belt certificate. I've had my actual belt for a while but it was good to collect the rest. I had to wait about three months to get my hands on this up due to the insane amount of people who take the test and the backlog of processing them all. It made me feel that the whole things was a little more legitimate.


As with hapkido, included, in English and Korean in the folder is documentation from the Korean Taekwondo Association and my Dan certification card proving rank and date of test passed. The picture of me on the card is mortifying but I'll have to live with it. As I say to anyone who asks me, learning hapkido and taekwondo has taught me a lot, helped me and given me a lot of pleasure in Korea and I'd recommend either to anyone interested in taking up a martial art.


Training for the next test, which is in June has started in earnest. Of course I won't be here but that's the direction we're headed in. Training is a bit more intense and we all agree that's for the best. I already feel like I will have everything prepared by January. I have most of the movements already fixed in my head and it's just a matter of honing technique, which of course is not so easy, especially the kicks. My motivation for the remaining months is this - I want to leave with everyone in the dojang knowing that if I took the test I would pass.