If At First You Don't Suceed...

Yesterday was belt testing for taekwondo. It was a pretty big day since five members of the family were testing. All of us at once. Exciting!

The general process of testing consists of the whole group reciting our school's motto and showing the basic forms. Then, we do our form, show our kicking techniques, do one-step sparring with a partner, and nun chucks. We take turns answering questions (all answers must be memorized) and, finally, we use different striking techniques to break one inch thick pine boards.

There were a few glitches along the way. Dude-Man was lost in thought when Master Kim told everyone to get into the kicking stance. The Boy forgot his form and had to redo it. When it came time to answer my questions the teacher asked me the wrong questions. Even though I started waving the ends of my belt to try to get him to realize that he was asking me the questions for the wrong color belt it was no use. I stumbled through the answers with him kindly helping me by basically reading the answers to me with me parroting the answers back to him. I looked him in the eye and could see the kindness and compassion oozing from him and I just wanted to shout, "You are asking me the wrong questions!" but I held my tongue and gathered my drifting thoughts and answer the final question perfectly. Go me!

Then it was time for the big finish - the breaking of the boards. Dude-Man neatly broke through his board with one strike using the Hammer Fist (striking the board with the side of his fist). Moli used the same technique and on her third try was successful. The Boy and Giggles used the Up & Down Kick to break their boards. The Boy got it in one try but Giggles had a harder time of it. In the end she was able to break her board.

As for me, I had to break the board using the Palm Strike. Things did not go well for me as you can see for yourself (Giggles is on the far end, I'm the one in the middle, and The Boy is on the near end)-






I hit that board FOURTEEN times! Argh!

And here's what I learned - when faced with a difficult situation you'd better give it your all every time, especially when you feel like giving up. Also, listen to those giving good advice and follow through.  And finally, sometimes you have to take a step back (in this case literally) and take everything you have learned and really go for it.