Another grading is coming up in a week. This grading will either be for our Apprentice Black belts or a half Gup Red. As our Master belt said, she is on the fence and we need to either push her towards the black side or fall on the red side. So, I’m writing this blog with some trepidation. I would like to get my Apprentice Black belt as it seems like a solid milestone to hit on my Karate journey, but then again it comes with strings attached. Like, they expect you to know things; things like how to teach lower belts, you have to know lots of forms and know them well, know the Korean words for things, and on and on.
So, do I think I’m ready for the black side of the fence? In order to answer that, I have to reflect on where I’ve been.
Sparring - my worst subject in karate. Way back when, it used to be that the only person that I could score real points on was my husband. I wasn’t afraid of him. He wouldn't hurt me because he knows that I can give him something the others in class couldn't. It’s not what you think, there was a thawed out turkey waiting to be cooked at home just the way he likes it. No really, in one class, they matched us up and I whispered in his ear before the match to remember who cooks his turkey dinner. I scored two points on him and won the match. My philosophy was that every little advantage helps. Like learning that saying “Ouch” during a match made people back off.
The other day however, I surprised even myself during line sparring. Still not sure how I did it, but I ended up getting a point on a second degree Black belt by throwing two side kicks in a row. The second one was by instinct because I saw that he lifted up his elbow just enough to get the point in after the first side kick. Before I knew it the second side kick was flying and I got him. I think I might have surprised him too, because he stopped to tell me that I had scored a point (does it still count if it was just line sparring?).
Self-defense - my favorite subject in karate. When I first started karate, I was so nervous about just touching someone else that I laughed quite a bit. Then there was this time when I got paired up with a junior high school girl who had a killer grip. No matter what I did, I couldn't get away from her. She didn’t really care that I was nervous or laughing either. I remember thinking, Forget the frickin’ bad guy how do I get my wrist back from this teenager. Then it hit me that in self-defense you can’t fool around because if someone is intent on hurting you, they won’t care if you are nervous about them touching you. I’m happy to say that I eventually got my wrist back and haven’t giggled since then, unless I get paired up with my daughter who apparently finds me extremely funny and has a hard time not laughing while doing the drills.
Flexibility - not sure I’m improving greatly in this area, but I can at least touch my toes if I really, really try. My husband however has really improved in this area. “Check this out, Wendy,” he said one day and demonstrated how he was able to kiss his knees while bending over. Then brought his feet in and was able to kiss the floor and then his feet. I like my feet, but I’m not in love with my feet, and kissing them is not something I’m really striving for. Some things are just not worth it.
Focus – a.k.a Forms (Hyungs). For me the true test of focus in karate is being able to do the forms and how well you can block out other distractions to still do the form well. When we first started I used to be very aware of everything going on around me and it would distract me from doing the form. Most days it was the kids who would gravitate to me during a form. Some days, it felt like I had a magnetic force field around me. We would start out perfectly lined up for the form and then by the end I would have the kids right beside me and they weren’t always my own kids.
Now, I don’t worry about the other people around me unless I feel like I don’t know the form which seems to be more of an issue for me right now. As I mentioned in my last blog, I’m having an overload of forms running around in my head and have to visual the beginning steps of the form to remember it. If those first steps don’t pop in my head, then I forget the entire form. Must be old age coming on.
Weapons - always fun to do weapons forms. Bo staff forms used to be this strange mix of organized chaos for me where I would randomly shove the bo staff into a position that resembled what the instructor wanted with no thought of what my feet were doing and no clue as to why. This often had the effect of hitting my own shins with the darn thing, or one time banging me in the face. Let me tell you that it is mighty embarrassing to explain how you hit yourself with a stick when someone asks about a bruise.
I’ve gotten over the bruised shins and even bought a pair of heavier sticks to practice actually hitting them together with a partner. But for some reason, my husband won’t practice with me. I promised I wouldn’t hurt him, but he doesn’t believe me. (He did see my shins after all.) We’re learning the sword forms now, but apparently I don’t get it. One day when I was talking to the instructor about swords, I mentioned that I hadn’t figured out the forms yet since the forms were in the way you move your wrist. His response was that it wasn’t in the wrists at all, but the keeping your wrist straight. Oh, oops. That would explain it then.
Breaking – the only time to really do damage in karate. I picked up this saying from somewhere, In Karate, they teach you how to hurt someone, but then tell you to not break someone. The one exception to this rule is in breaking; the more boards that are destroyed, the louder the crack of the break, the better. I like breaking boards and I used to hurt myself pretty badly as shown here. This was after attempting an Axe kick which turned into a football punt, but with a couple of boards instead of a ball.
I’ve learned that there is some technique to breaking a board without hurting yourself, but most importantly it’s whether you think you can break the board. I saw this show where they stacked up 10 roofing tiles for a karate student to break. The goal was to show how much strength you had. Mostly determined by how many roofing tiles you could break through. I think I’m ready for roofing tiles. It sounds like fun and I can just imagine the noise that they would make. Wooden boards are so yesterday.
So, am I ready to be on the black side? Frankly, some of things that they expect me to do as an Apprentice Black belt scares me (like teaching others, shudder). But in looking back, there have been a lot of things that scared me that I’ve gotten through in the past three years. Now, if only I can remember the middle part of Chil Sung IL Ro, I’d be set. 3 kicks then the stick / punch / punch.
At this moment, my toenails have no color on them as I’m on the fence, too. Maybe after this Tuesday’s class I’ll make up my mind what color to paint them. (If this makes no sense, then please read some of my other blogs.)
- Wendy Austin
* This blog is dedicated to my New Zealand fan that contacted me and told me to keep up on my blogs. So, here’s a shout out to all my fans wherever they may be in the world. I haven’t forgotten, just got busy with the rest of my life.
