Black Belt Class in Philly

While in Philadelphia for testing, I thought I’d take the opportunity to take a Black Belt class at Headquarters. At HQ, Blue belts can attend BB class with permission of their Sabumnim, so Beth Kurtz (my skit partner in crime) bravely accompanied me.

Since there are so many students at HQ and surrounding dojangs, BB children have their own separate class. Both adult and children BB classes are 1 hour & ½. We walked in on the latter part of the children’s class and they were free sparring. Those kids were seemed pretty tough. I don’t think I’d want to free spar with some of the bigger ones!

After the kids class, it was our turn. We were nervous, not knowing what to expect. I didn’t know if we’d do hundreds of jumping jacks & pushups, wind sprints, etc. (Sabumnim if you’re reading this, please don’t get any ideas! :) ) There were a great deal of students attending. However, while one red stripe was present, Ms. Kurtz was the only blue belt. We faced the flag, bowed, then did the tenants. Then Sa yon nim took all of the black stripes who were testing aside to work on Choong Moo. He did one move at a time, adjusting stances where necessary. He called everyone up, and described the meaning of Choong Moo, then said to know it for the testing the next day. The class came together then and we started patterns, move by move. Sa yon nim went around making corrections to various stances during the process. After each belt level finished up to their current pattern, they would take 2 steps back (that’s protocol in case you didn’t know), then sit down towards the back of the dojang. After patterns, blue belt thru 1st degree went outside in the parking lot to practice 2-step sparring. This was nice since it was unseasonably warm and sunny. We would also rotate partners every so often. We started out with 2-steps 1 and 2, then 3 and 4, 5 and 6, etc. Not everyone knew their 2 steps very well, so I was glad that Sabumnim has us do them often, so that I was prepared and could do them. Then we moved on to free one-step sparring. I should clarify that this is the kind where you demonstrate a hand or foot technique for your partner, kihap, then your partner performs the move. They must then use a block, hand, then foot or block, foot, then hand. They also did a drill where if someone attacked with a foot, you had to defend with a foot (and the same thing with hands). We didn’t get a chance to do much of this. After about 20 minutes, we went inside and changed into our sparring gear. Ms. Kurtz and I were the only ones wearing headgear. However, we decided to err on the side of caution here and keep them on! We partnered up and did a drill where we would hold our two gloves on a spot and our partner would quickly hit that spot, then alternate and repeat, eventually working up to 3 hits per person in three different spots. After this we sparred and alternated with no contact. Then Sa yon nim had just the women partner up (alternating every 1-2 minutes) and spar with light contact, then more, then full contact. During sparring Sa yon nim would call out different requirements. For instance, he called out to NOT use side, front and back kicks. The men were up next, sparring each other, and rotating partners. Occasionally, Sa yon nim would chastise various male students for using the same kicks all of the time, telling them to save that for tournaments. He declared that he wanted to see downward, twisting, reverse hook and other less common kicks. After, sparring, 2 different relay stations were set up – one for a double kick, and one bar to jump over from a standing position. We lined up to run and do the kick, then to the next station to jump over the bar. After a few rounds, it turned into a contest, with students having to do a front flying kick to hit a target, then jumping over the bar, which was raised each time (what I call a “reverse limbo”). Those who didn’t touch the high target (which was also raised each time) or who hit the bar while jumping had to sit down. Most of the “finalists” were tall, except the one guy who won. He was probably 5 9- 5’11ish, but definitely very muscular (and very springy!).

After all of the fun, class came to a close. We did a quick round of jumping jacks, pushups and sit-ups, and recited the student oath.

The end.