June 22, 2006

4th kyu

I will officially be "striped" next week, but I have passed my 4th kyu test. My belt will look like this next week:

Oh yeah! This is the last of the green belts. Next time I test it will be for brown belt with one black stripe, then two stripes, then three, and then black belt. This testing felt GREAT! I did everything without a mistake. It was a welcome change from the last time I tested.

I should have remembered that the week following testing is sparring week. I completely forgot; so I showed up at class all excited to start learning my new open hand kata and sai kata. I was sorely disappointed to hear that we were supposed to gear up. In two weeks, our dojo will have six brown belts testing for black belt and two black belts testing for the next dan. This is the most we’ve had in a long time.

Before the official IKKF testing, all brown belts test internally at our dojo. For our IKKF test, sparring is not required. For internal testing, it is (silently sobs while thinking about my future.) Tonight sort of reminded me of fraternity hell week. All brown belts were required to be there for both the early and late class. They sparred, three minute rounds, for two hours straight. Because this was their testing, me and the other lower ranks were put into the sparring rings intermittently with them.

I tested at the beginning of class and was sort of whining about having to spar. My instructor said he was "very interested to see how I would do." After all, the last time I sparred it was with him and he was trying to teach me some tricks and help me with technique. As soon as he said that, my first thought was, "I’m going to disappoint him." My next thought was, "I am going to walk into this ring with confidence (real or make-believe, whatever I have to do.) and try my best."

So I did. My instructor put me opposite a young teenage boy who is very good at sparring. He’s good at watching you and picking you apart. He’s good at waiting for you to make a mistake. Before it was my turn, I watched the other brown belts and took notes as to what worked and what didn’t. I was prepared to try new things, so I did.

Instead of using my back leg for front snap kicks, I instead turned to the side when facing my opponent, cutting off possible strike areas. Instead of snap kicks, I used round house kicks. They seemed to work much better for me. At one point, I followed a round house kick with a punch and a backfist to the head. It probably looked pretty sloppy, but it worked. Of course, I apologized to my sparring partner for hitting him in the head. I’m silly like that. If someone hits me, I have to bite my tongue in order not to apologize for being hit. My instructor interrupted the match to tell me that it was a good strike and that I had nothing to apologize for. I can’t tell you how good that made me feel. So what if the kid is like 13 years old.

I got a bit of a break and then was put in a ring with a 10-year old. He’s a little guy but he’s a feisty one. Here’s the dilemma. With the teenager, I can mentally deal with it. He’s a teenager after all and he looks older. With a 10-year old? Not so much. It’s hard for a Mommy to hit or kick a little boy, even if he’s testing for black belt in two weeks. Also, his Mom was in the dojo watching. I’m sure she just loved watching a 30-something year old woman kicking her kid.

So, there I am feeling all silly fighting this little guy, when he throws a high round house kick at me that NAILS me right in the chest. This chest is currently functioning to provide sustenance to my baby daughter so it did not feel good. Not at all. The next time he nailed me I walked right into yet another round house kick, but to the gut this time. It hurt. He hit my floating ribs and I decided I wasn’t getting kicked anymore. I blocked the majority of the rest of the kicks he threw at me. At one point, I came up under his kick (by accident, but still people, this is good) and sort of moved my arm around so that he was thrown off balance. If I would have kept going, he would have been on the floor. I didn’t continue with the rotation. I probably should have.

I am happy to report that he was unable to make contact with my head. This could be because I had him by almost two feet; but I’m going with the whole I did a good job blocking thing. I made some controlled contact with him, and that felt really good. I think he saw this tall woman coming out and just decided that he could use whatever force he wanted to. I mean, really, what grown person is going to complain about a 10-year old using too much force? Not me! At least not in the dojo anyway. I save it for here.

I think I made some good progress with my sparring and demonstrated it tonight. It wasn’t perfect. I have a long way to go. Even though I am one step closer to black belt tonight, it couldn’t seem further away with all that I know I need to accomplish before I am even able to test for it. Tonight, I suggested to my husband that we buy sparring gear and spend some time each night after the girls go to bed beating the crap out of each other. It would be great exercise and good practice for me. He was sort of receptive to the idea; but to be honest. . . I think he’s scared. I fight dirty after all.