January 4, 2007
People Change
Something changes when people become black belts. Maybe it’s a new found confidence that greets you when the belt is finally earned. Maybe it’s a deeper understanding of everything that you’ve been learning through the years. Maybe it’s a combination of the two or something else entirely, but something definitely changes.
I used to partner up frequently with a high school girl, back when she was a brown belt and I was a pregnant yellow and then green belt with what appeared to be a basketball under my gi. She’s now in college and I had the opportunity to partner up with her again while she’s on winter break. Sometimes when practicing self defense techniques, you’ll have a partner who takes it sort of easy on you. I tend to do this, probably because I’m most used to having my 5-year old daughter as my partner. Applying lots of force would be counterproductive to say the least. It’s good to go about it this way when someone is first learning a technique. But once you know the basics, as higher ranks should, it’s good to have someone who will hang on the way an attacker would, someone who won’t take it so easy on you.
I don’t know if it’s the absence of the belly for me, or the black belt and intimidating black gi for her, but her techniques were beyond being effective. They were intense and even though I knew what she was going to do, her speed made the techniques come as a surprise. I pity the poor fool who tries to grab her arm at college. He’s a goner, for sure.
Whether it’s the confidence, the experience, or both, I hope that I find that intensity in my techniques at some point. By the time I make it to black belt would be great. Heck, tomorrow would be cool too. In fact, anytime in the future would be just fabulous.
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🙂
It’ll happen.
it’s a decision thing. Decide to. 🙂
happy 2007 if I haven’t said it.
I think it depends on who your are sparing with!! Guy usualy go easy on us(don’t aks me why, it’s not like we cannot handle the pain). Why girls, depends on which one I’m fighting with, some I go smooth, some hader!!
But I think that we expect you to be more able to take some then lower belt!!
I know exactly what you mean. I see it in our most senior brown, who is ready to test for black. He’s head and shoulders above any of the junior students in speed and intensity, and it’s not just that he’s bigger and younger than the other adults. There’s something there I’m reaching for and haven’t quite achieved yet – but I want it bad!
It definitely depends on who you spar. I’ve been doing kenpo for 13 years and have what is called an “unconfirmed” black belt. Every school is different. My teacher makes us test for the black– in which we get unconfirmed status– and then we go back and re-test on everything we’ve done prior, white through black, to get the full black.
So I’m in the process of getting the full black.
The reason it’s taken so long is I moved away for awhile, first to school overseas (I took shorinji kenpo in Japan) and then to L.A. before coming back home. That and taking time off to have two kids put me way back of schedule, but I guess better late than never.
Anyway, we spar a lot. I spar all the guys, from black-belt on down and I’d say I’ve probably encountered it all. I actually prefer sparing the black belts. They have a lot more control and I know they know how to pull a strike if necessary. I’ve always gotten hurt sparring lower belts because they don’t have a lot of control.
Teenage boys are another story though. I think they feel they have something to prove, either that or too much testosterone. I’ve learned that I have to be fairly aggressive with those guys and not back down or they think they can walk all over you.
But the black does have a little of an intimidation factor, even the unconfirmed black. I’m a 37 year old woman, but some of the guys are actually afraid to spar me, mostly because of the belt. Though I’d like to think it’s also because they have seen me spar.
But I do know for a fact that by the time you have reached your black belt, the training kicks in to a greater degree. Stuff that seemed so hard before is easier and you can take more time to plan your moves rather than just react. So take heart, by the time you get there, you’ll feel the confidence you see in the other black belts.
I think sparring with your kid just gets you in that “pretend” mode and then when someone is doing it for “real” it’s shocking. 😀