Picking up my taekwondo black belt

Last week I found out that I had passed my taekwondo black belt test. I had to wait a week to receive the belt but finally got my hands on it a few days ago. It certainly puts a spring in your step on your way to and from the dojang. I'm still surprised at how quickly we got to the stage of taking the test. When I did hapkido it took ten months to get to black belt test status and just seven for taekwondo. My Master deserves a lot of credit. We doubted him and ourselves. I thought it was coming too soon but we were wrong. The timing was just right.


I'm very proud of how I've done. There is no disillusion over my ability. I know where I stand with my level. If only I could have started this a few years earlier ago I think I would have really enjoyed training a lot more. Where will I go now with taekwondo? Well the text for a 2nd degree black belt would be in June 2011 - a year from the 1st degree one. I won't be here then, no way. So I am stuck at the level I have reached (belt wise). I am now going to go to improve if I can and for fun. I enjoy going. It's a great start to the day.


A few days ago the Masters wife asked me what I liked the most, my hapkido black belts or my taekwondo one. To be diplomatic and respectful I said they were both great and I enjoy this one because it is the one I have passed recently. I stick by that but passing my 2nd degree hapkido test took a lot of sacrifices. I went at night on my own. I trained on my own and improved on my own. With taekwondo it's been more of a team effort. A different kind of achievement. Both have been great times and both different.

Taekwondo black belt success

We did it! Just seven months after first starting taekwondo classes we have all passed our black belt test. Today our Master casually told us that Diana and then his wife had passed. He then told me I had not but he was teasing me.

I couldn't be happier with how things have gone. To be honest it's not sunk in or doesn't seem real yet as I won't get hold of my new belt for a few days. Till then I'm going to have to be content with just being really happy.

Not bad eh, from white to black in seven months.

Ready or not?

This week, my co-worker and taekwondo partner, Diana and I were talking about the upcoming black belt test. We discussed the pluses and minuses and reached a decision, to postpone our June test to August or October. Then we told out taekwondo master and he basically persuaded us to take the test in June.

He didn't bully us or make us sign up but he insisted we could pass providing we practice and memorise the poomsaes. I still have my reservations. I doubt my technique and make stupid errors on easy patterns and am uncomfortable where I am 'at' in taekwondo. I have to trust his opinion and if I fail then I fail. I need to focus on the positives - I already have 2 hapkido black belts so why would I fail now?

Well now we have only eight more sessions before our black belt test. Are we ready, or rather am I? No, I don't think so but having said that, the test is in two weeks not today. I've been a bit sick with a cold all week so there has been little intensity in my training. Hopefully this won't cost me come test day. With the World Cup starting today I fear my attention and focus will be diverted and training will be extra difficult.

Taekwondo belt mission

After missing three consecutive taekwondo classes I felt pretty tired and weak at the end of todays practice. I've been busy with some stuff and haven't been able to go and it showed today as both my technique and energy levels were pretty low but it was good to be back. Boy do I need to practice harder and harder though because I am lacking in some areas.

We're currently studying poomsae seven (태극 칠 장 - Taegeuk Chil Jang) and I'm struggling with some of the feet and arm movements and feel stupid when I screw up. I think this is so much harder than all the other poomsaes and believe I may need another week or two minimum to be test ready but we'll see. After practice was over our master demonstrated poomsae number eight (태극 팔 장 - Taegeuk Pal Jang). I maintain my belief that this is easier than poomsae seven but we shall see.

So presuming we pass the current poomsae then we will begin number eight. And when we are ready we will go downtown to the taekwondo arena (?) and try out for our black belts - pretty nerve wracking considering it will be in front of a lot of people. And when will we be tacking 0ut black belt test? Well today, and I think I'm paraphrasing my taekwondo master but he said "Challenge is beautiful!" What he is trying to get us to do is to be test ready for 26th June. That's just four weeks away.

Mission impossible perhaps but I'll give it a go. I still think I will be struggling to be anywhere near test ready but at least we'll be practicing an extra day a week from Tuesday. In two weeks time we'll have to make a decision about whether or not we will take the test so I've got two weeks to improve my fitness and technique. Personally I'd rather take the test in August and do well rather than be in/adequate in June but I have to respect the opinion of my master. Let's be positive and give it a try. Tick tock, tick tock.

Seeing red - 2 steps away from black belt

Up the ladder once again. White, yellow, orange, green, purple, blue, brown and now red. Today was taekwondo test day at my dojang and I passed and got a new belt. However it didn't all go according to plan. My condition was pretty good, preparation was fine, practice went OK and I felt extremely confident and then the test started.


First we did the 6th and latest poomsae. This went very well and I didn't make any mistakes. Then came numbers four and five and my technique collapsed. I made so many mistakes it just wasn't funny. Three hours later and I'm still furious with myself. The mistakes were stupid mistakes too, things that I don't get wrong when I practice. Usually it's the easy poomsaes that I screw up.


Luckily our master gave us both another chance to take the poomsaes and they went much better. He said we need to be at 60% to pass but he wants us to be at an 80% level soon. I'm supposedly at 70% which is OK for now but not good enough for the black belt test in maybe two months time. I repeat to myself that I must improve, must work harder and must try my best even when I don't feel up to it. It's not going to get any easier from here on in.


When we get to the black belt test there are no second chances on the day, it's pass or fail. Today would have been a fail and a two month wait till the next time. On the up side I feel I'm getting better and I've got rid of that ugly brown belt. Now I have a HUGE red one which is so long that I have to wrap it around my body twice. You win some you lose some but you can see in the picture how pleased I am to get rid of the previous one. I anticipate the next test in about three or four weeks and then we will be practicing for black. This is going too fast but it's something to look forward and something to aim at.

Tuesday taekwondo struggle

More mistakes at taekwondo today resulting in the postponement of Wednesdays test to Friday. And it's a good thing too. It would appear that after a weekend of no exercise or practice the first day back in the dojang I am hopeless. Stupid mistakes and unforgivable gaps in my memory made the poomsaes (1-3) much harder even though they are the easiest. The later more difficult ones including number six I feel confident doing. The only answer is practice, practice practice. In an ideal world I would go there every day but that's not to be for now. My body has limitations but I must work harder.

After todays practice I got to spend about thirty minutes with my Master talking about things. Even though his English is limited we can communicate quite well and he is getting better by the week. We talked about future tests, exercise and even the weather. I'm very lucky to be studying under someone so kind and relaxed. I asked about getting another uniform next month, a more expensive one and we checked some out on the internet. I look forward to buying one in the near future. Sweating in the dojang proves I need another as the humidity is on the rise as Summer creeps ever closer.

Watching taekwondo black belt tests

Yesterday was a really busy day. With only four hours sleep I just about managed to get up and head to my dojang to meet my taekwondo Master. Some of his students were taking first and second black belt tests and Diana (co-worker and taekwondo comrade) and myself were invited to go and watch those taking part (people from the Bukgu area of Daegu). We drove downtown and none of the kids in showed any sign of nerves. Perhaps too young to think about it or perhaps it's not really a big deal for any of them.




The tests were around the Samsung Lions baseball stadium and the first thing that hit me was how many people were actually having their test at once. I think my master said around four/five hundred people although it is sometimes double that. When I took hapkido tests at my dojang there were sometimes around fifty people watching and I always was very conscious of being very conspicuous but this was on a much larger scale though to be honest nobody will be watching me when I get to take my test.




Watching all the action I was very impressed with most of the participants. First we saw a demostration which was a lot of fun to watch up close. I made a video and hope to post that soon. Then it was the turn of the kids who start off with those taking their 1st 'poom' test all the way up to those taking third or fourth ones. This being a small world and all, I naturally I bumped into one current and one ex-student of mine taking part. I watched them and they did well. When the kids finish it's the turn of the adults who take their 'dan' tests and here is when the arena emptied significantly.




About the tests themselves first the participants do the Taegeuk Pal Jang (eighth and final poomsae before being award a black belt) then two other poomsae's afterwards - these are drawn at random and could be the first two you learn or numbers six and seven which was what yesterdays students had to do, so in all three poomsae's. Finally there is a fighting element where you attack and defend yourself against an opponent supposedly not making contact but you do wear a helmet. This is similar to something I did in hapkido and is the easiest section. When doing these four sections you start off at one end of the arena and end up at the other and you take your test with five or six other people. The whole thing took about three hours though if there are more people then of course it takes longer.




As it took three hours there was plenty of time for consideration and reflection. I still feel inferior to many of those who I saw taking part yesterday. I am not fit enough yet, I need to lose weight, I am not flexible enough, my technique is inadequate right now. Will I really be ready to take part in two months time or will I have to wait an additional two more months? Right now that looks very close and although I would be confident of passing I am not so confident about actually being any good. I don't want to embarrass myself, my Master of his dojang. I cannot help thinking ahead of myself but need to stop and concentrate on what I am doing now. So overall it was good to see what's in store for me but there's a hell of a lot of work to be done between now and then whenever test time is.