Green Belt

Michael had his belt graduation this past Friday. He is now a Green Belt. We are quite proud. In addition to his earning this new belt level, he is now considered an "advanced level". They group "low belts" and "high belts" together in classes. Which means, unfortunately, that his class schedule changes.

Michael has been going almost every day recently. The program we enrolled him in has "unlimited" classes, so we have been taking that to heart, and he has been going usually 4-5 days a week. I knew that would change come baseball and soccer season anyway.

I liked his old schedule, it integrated well into the rest of our activities. One of the changes is actually better, the class is earlier in the day (3:30 instead of 4:20). The other day, however, its later and starts running into baseball and soccer, so he often won't be going that day.



But, back to the point at hand. He did a great job at his belt test. His form (which is a sequence of steps, kicks, and punches) was done with precision and authority. The picture of his sparring is classic. It shows him blocking a kick by his opponent. He didn't enjoy the sparring though - I haven't figured out if it was because he was sparring with a girl, or with a grown-up girl. I think it was the "grown-up" part. But, he held his own and then the instructor switched out partners.

I like his instructor. He is great with the kids. I had to chuckle at him at the belt test. He asked Michael if he was allowed to "make contact" with his sparring partner, which he wasn't because his partner wasn't wearing pads. He then asked the boy beside Michael if he was allowed to make "hard contact" with his partner. The boy said "um, no?". The instructor said, "Do you know why?" and the boy didn't, at which point the instructor said "Because she's a girl and you always respect women" :)