Videos from the belt test

Some form and the 1 second that Travis broke his board.  LOL

TKD videos

Here are 2 videos from class on Thursday night.  Notice someone can't stand still but actually does a decent cartwheel these days!  LOL

Last night's TKD class

Well it wasn't a complete disaster but it wasn't a complete success either.  He has forgotten a lot of the forms etc which is of course what they were doing last night.  Travis also had a hard time standing still--shocker and was bouncing in his spot a lot.  Oh well.  He made it through class and we are going back tonight.  I hope more and more will be coming back to him.  We will be going a lot over the next few weeks since I learned last night that the next test is mid February--no idea if he will be ready for that but I guess only time will tell!  Here are a few videos from last night.......the funny thing about the last 2 videos is that same person stood in front of Travis for his kick EVERY time!  Not when other kids were kicking--just when it was Travis' turn he would stand RIGHT THERE!  And I had Brody sitting on my lap quietly so I couldn't jump up.   ;)

5 months

That is how long it's been since Travis has been in Tae Kwon Do class.  In the beginning of August we put his contract "on hold" because he was starting to play tackle football and ice hockey--TKD couldn't be in the mix also unfortunately.  So now we are picking TKD back up since football is over and hockey is only twice a week.  I don't know what will happen in the spring when baseball starts-might depend on how often baseball is and if he is playing spring hockey or not.  Tonight though should be interesting.  He will be thrown to the wolves so to speak since he is a black belt and the black belt classes are his only option.  I wonder how much he remembers......I guess we will find out soon!

He passed!

I'm shocked and relieved that Travis passed his TKD test this week for his 1st star on his black belt.  Why am I shocked and relieved?  Well this was the 1st test that he has taken where they had to do self defense....and they hardly ever practice it in class.....and we didn't know it was part of the test!  Needless to say he stood there like a deer in headlights and was asked to sit down!  AHHHHH!  Anyway he passed mainly on his other efforts and here is a quick video of some of his form during the test.

Travis' Birthday Party

For the 1st year ever Travis wanted to have his birthday party somewhere other than at home.  He chose to have his 7th birthday party at Tiger Den.  I had given him a bunch of options and that was his choice-probably since he had just gotten his black belt-who knows.  I think all of the kids had a great time and as always the highlight of the party was cutting the cake with the ceremonial sword.  I failed on getting certain pictures but here are some highlights that I was able to catch.  :)

Listening to Master Jeon

The kids lining up to hit the "Bob" targets

Pointing their toes but I don't remember why

Kicking!

Candy!  Yay? 

The kids trying to drag Travis on this mat

Trying the same thing with Evan on the mat-it didn't work so well

Bowing to his Master

Ready to kick!

CAKE!

Silly boys!

Hacking into the cake some more

Brody was napping until about 15 minutes before the party ended.  Someone clipped the balloons to the back of his shorts.  He loved it!

Video of Travis and Master Jeon cutting the cake!

Only at Tiger Den they cut the birthday cake with a ceremonial sword.  The kids were wide eyed and the parents that didn't know what was going to happen next were a bit nervous.  :)

White belt---Black Belt

I tried to recreate the "pose" that Travis did the night of his 1st white belt class.  I thought it would be cute to see how much he has grown and changed in the last 2 years.  Of course in the original picture he is crouching down a lot but you can see how much he's grown in comparison to the wall behind him.   It didn't work out too well though since I couldn't get him in the exact same "pose" but you get the idea.  :)

Fierce little white belt--almost 5 years old in the picture

My (barely) 7 year old black belt

He was pretending to do the yell thing which is why his mouth is hanging open.  ;)  His first uniform was a 000 and this one is a 0--which is really for a kid that is 80 pounds and 4'6".  He weighs 63 pounds and is over 4 feet tall but I don't know how far over.  :)

Flying side kick?

Yesterday was Travis' 1st TKD class as a black belt.  The first 20 minutes of class they worked on handstands--which was scary-bodies were flopping all over the mat.  Travis had some decent attempts but they usually ended with him falling awkwardly falling on the mat instead of doing a front roll out.  Practice makes perfect I guess.  :)  After that they started to learn/work out flying side kicks.  They had to run and do the kick over this large pad that is about 3 feet tall or so.  In the beginning of the video you will see Master Jeon do one and then Travis.  On his first try he actually made it over the pad without knocking it over!  Of course he then fell down.  ;)  Practice makes perfect on this one as well I guess.

Black belt ceremony pictures

The belts hanging on the wall in the studio.

Goofing off before the ceremony begins--shocker.

Listening to Grand Master Kim.

Very excited.

Look at me!

Yay we did it!

SO HAPPY!

Travis and Lars started in the white belt class together 2 years ago.  Look at them now!

Buddies.

Travis, Lars and their current Master--Master Jeon

Videos from Travis' Black Belt Ceremony

New uniform and belt!

Board breaking demo

Getting his trophy!     

Travis passed his test!

I can't tell you how relieved I was when I saw his name on the black belt test "pass list". All of that stress and money well spent? ;). He worked so hard the week of the test perfecting his creative form and creative kicking routines. On Monday his form didn't look great and he kept forgetting part of it but by the end of the week it looked sharp and solid!

It was roughly 2 years ago that he started TKD as a 4 year old white belt--it's just crazy how fast the past 2 years have gone!  He gets his new belt on the 11th and he is so excited!

First day of his white belt class!

From this years Championship. Look at home much bigger he looks!  Now I need him to re-create the pose above when he gets his black belt.  :)

Pictures from yesterday's black belt test

Waiting for the 3 1/2 hour test to begin!

Listening to one of the Masters.

Form

More form

Watching the Junior Tigers do their form.

Goofing off in his sparring gear.

Stay-puff marshmallow boy.

Happy to be done!

Board breaking video

I should have added this one to the other post but this is his board breaking part of the test.  The 3 techniques he does are 1)  Hammer fist  2)  Jumping front snap kick and 3) Tornado kick.  His tornado kick looked MUCH better than it did about a month ago.  Back then he fell over almost every time he did it at the end--too much momentum maybe.

Two form videos from Travis' black belt test

The video on the top is the newest form he had to learn for this test.  The official name for it is Tae Geuk Pal Jong I think.  This is the form he did at the Championship a few weeks back but he wasn't as confident with it as he is now. 

The second video is his "creative form" that he had to make up on his own and memorize it.   I had heard the kids all get their form changed right before the test by the masters but for some reason (stroke of luck?) Travis' was never changed.  This is the exact form he crafted on his own.  He is CRAZY sharp in his movements.  Lots of "uniform sounds" and the occasional pop of an elbow.  lol

Stressing out

I know it's silly but I am completely stressed out about Travis' black belt test that is this Saturday.  Maybe it's because I want him to pass, maybe it's because I want him to enjoy the process but just maybe it's the $450 test application fee you have to plunk down to take the test.  Just maybe.  Just to give some perspective most of the belt tests are $45 and there are 2 that are higher.  Semi black belt which he got back in December was $175 and black belt which is this weekend and that crazy amount of $450.  Ugh.  Just writing that stressed me out a little bit. 

They had the seminar last weekend that is kind of like a pre-test and Travis passed that.  This was great news considering he froze when it was time to do his creative form (14 hand movements he made up on his own that he had to memorize).  Thankfully they gave him time to cool down and when he was given another chance he did fine.  His other forms, kicking technique, home rules and student creed are all almost perfect so that's a good thing.  Hopefully he doesn't freeze during his form on Saturday! 

Expect videos and pictures from Saturday's 3 1/2 hour test later this weekend!  (the length of the test also makes me nervous/stressed since Travis has trouble concentrating and focusing on anything that long!)

A boy and his 3 new prized possessions.....

He was having trouble holding all 3 at once!  :)

Pictures from the TKD Championship

Waiting patiently (sort of) for the form competition to begin.

Form event.

Yay!  3rd place!

Mid jump.

Getting ready for the power breaking event.  He has 10 boards stacked up there.

Showing me his form-lol.

Waiting for his turn.....

Goofing off--he also uses his right hand to punch.  ;)

He broke 8 out of the 10 boards and 4 at once!

Travis wins 1st place!

He was SO excited!

I'm still not sure how he held all of those boards and his trophy!

Technical breaking event.  He did a jumping front snap kick followed by a punch.

3rd place!  (the other kids did tornado kicks-Travis can do one but he falls over at the end sometimes)

What a great day!