Kara tested for her brown belt in Tae Kwon Do in December. She was nervous, but confident. She was practicing a lot for a few weeks before the test. We got there early for her to warm up, but still ended up on the floor, because the chairs go fast. One of these times I will remember to bring my own.
She even did some pushups before the test.
She is always great on stances. I don't know how her legs can stand to hold that position for so long.
Kicks are also a strong point for her.
The brown belt exam only lasts 2 1/2 hours. Evie fell asleep after an hour, and then Ben showed up and took her and Kiersten home. When the lower belt ranks left, I was glad to be able to get up in a chair. Too old for the floor. It was crazy hot in there too, so it was not super pleasant to hold a sleeping 6 year old. At one point, Kiersten was laying on me too.
Her hamstring started to bother her about an hour in, but she decided to tough it out. Her teacher was worried she may have pulled a muscle, but she was ok the next day after resting. She did have a painful look on her face several times during the exam, but she did not want to quit, so he let her continue.
She really likes sparring. Being the awful mom I am, we forgot her mouth guard, but she didn't get hit in the face, so that was good.
It was funny to watch the girls barely willing to hit and kick each other, while the boys at the back of the room were going at each other pretty hard. The girls had to be pushed constantly to actually make decent contact.
These to buddies couldn't stop giggling and love tapping each other. The instructor kept yelling, "Hit her Anna! Harder Kara!"
They did eventually pick it up a bit, but Kara still held back, because she didn't think her size advantage was fair.
When she got to spar against the boys, she hit and kicked her hardest. She was not worried in the least about kicking the boys that are smaller than her.
She passed, and was awarded her brown belt. One step closer to black! It's hard to believe it's been 2 1/2 years since she started.
Her teacher is so great. He is hard on them, and expects them to do their best. It certainly spills over into the rest of her life.
She attended several sparring practices ahead of the exam to make sure she was ready for that portion of testing. I'm surprised how much she enjoys it. She actually gets hurt more often playing basketball, because at TKD, everyone is trained in how to hit/kick etc. Her favorite is getting to spar with the teachers. She is rather predictable, and always goes for a head punch or a kick to the side of the waist. They always have to remind her to try other moves.
The instructor kept urging her to try to hit his head, but was protecting it too well, so she went for a kick to the gut. He wasn't really ready for that, haha.
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