Category: Sport and Exercise

Goodness me – it hardly seems like I got my blue belt and it’s grading time again …

Somehow I don’t seem to have Yul-Gok completely in my head although I like the pattern a lot. The circular block just isn’t flowing properly although funnily enough I feel like I can now do Won-Hyo better just by learning Yul-Gok – I’m not quite sure how that works.

I spent ages and ages practising board breaks and made sure that I asked people to hold boards for me at training (and other people also practised with my boards since I had them out). My goal for this grading was to get my board breaks first go including the combination kick (front kick – side kick same foot).

I was really pleased at the grading that I actually did get all my breaks first go, and I was actually not too unhappy with the rest of my stuff too. My patterns were not fantastic, but my sparring has improved and so has my one-step (even if Sabum Cariotis is not happy with it … ) I was also really happy that Krista came to watch me and Tim grade – at least she now knows what we do given that it takes quite a bit of time.

My grading for blue belt required not only a new pattern and two board breaks, but also an adjustment to the fact that I was sort of grading alone because Leila had to miss training because of Ramadan and missed out on the grading.

I did one-step sparring with Movan (sp) but we didn’t really train much together and although we encouraged each other on the day, it wasn’t the same as grading with Leila and Leanne.

My board breaks were side-kick and downward knifehand strike. The knifehand was pretty easy for me but it took 3 tries to get the sidekick despite lots of practice. I kept stopping at the board rather than going through it, although when I did break it, it felt easy.

Although I’m happy to have my blue belt, I didn’t really think that I nailed the grading in the way I’d like to, with my patterns still pretty stiff and un-flowing, my sparring somewhat unimaginative, my one-step sparring a bit diabolical and board-breaking not clean enough.

On Saturday we had a training session with Grand Master Leong Wei Ming. I didn’t know what to expect especially as initially it was going to be only for Red and Black Belts. It ended up being for Yellow Belts and above, and instead of doing complex techniques that would test an old body like mine, we actually focussed on sinewave and did Saju Magki, Saju Jirugi and Chon Ji for three hours to the refrain of “Let’s do it again … ”

Grand Master Leong is a very impressive person, softly spoken, gentle in what he says, but demonstrating amazing technique and crispness giving an aura of power which was somehow accompanied by an exquisite softness of movement.

I really enjoyed the training session although I have a feeling that it was a tad underwhelming for the kids who don’t really care too much for the theory of sinewave and of the precise timing of movement of each body part …

update many years later: I trained with GM Leong a few more times and he never showed anything other than sine wave in Chon-ji. While I’m sure that I more to learn about sinewave and Chon-ji, I now also know that what we were shown by GM Leong had numerous harmonics that would not enhance power in any way.

The next grading will involve breaking boards. To this end a while ago, I ordered some rebreakable plastic boards so I can practice board breaking in the privacy of my own home, and I won’t have to worry about cost per break (as I would with wooden boards). I’ve finally got John to make a board holder, and I’m now practising spasmodically, and finding that it is quite difficult.

We had another in-house tournament recently, and I entered the power-breaking just to focus a bit more on how to do it. I came third (out of three) but still managed to complete one break, and come close in the other two. The tournament was great in focussing us to learn our patterns ahead of the grading, and it is a really good opportunity for the women especially to try out their fighting skills in a safe but competitive environment. For most of us, it’s the only time we are likely to be involved in “real” fights, so it’s good to know how what our responses might be like if we ever have to fight on the street. Tim came second in the sparring again.

Really this site should be a blog. (editorial note: I did in Mar, 2004) Eventually I will make it into one. Really. Or at least turn the entries around the other way so it is reverse chronological …

This year, there have been 4 grading days scheduled and it didn’t seem like very much time between grading 1 and grading 2. I had been very impatient to learn new patterns at the beginning, but suddenly found that although I knew the movements for Do San, I didn’t really feel comfortable with executing them. I also have found that I am much more able to perform sequences of fundamental movements, but this makes me aware of how technically imperfect I am in my execution.

In the first six months I was just trying not to fall over, and was pleased if I ended up in the same stance as the front row rather than caring how the individual movement were executed. By the time we got to the June grading, John had joined us in learning taekwondo, and he graded for his yellow belt.

We all performed reasonably competently, and Leila and I were particularly pleased with our two-step sparring, which we had practised together very assiduously. We found it amusing that although we could remember particular sequences (with a bit of effort), we girls were not very good at working out defences for particular attacks or thinking up pur own sequences of attack. But we did okay

The grading for green tip was much less stressful than the first grading since I pretty much knew what to expect. My patterns and 3 step sparring felt pretty good, although I still have quite a bit to master with my fundamental techniques. And sine wave … well that’s another thing. Tim graded for yellow belt, and knew his stuff very competently. He was late to the grading because he had a cricket final on the same day, so when he arrived, he had to perform all his stuff (pattern and 3 step sparring) by himself in front of everyone. He was very confident and crisp in his movements, and I was very proud of him. I’m not completely surprised to find though that the more I’m enjoying taekwondo, the less enthusiastic Tim is. I am taken with all the theory and philosophy and I’m also very happy with the all around physical fitness (flexibility and strength work) whereas Tim mostly likes to spar and to do skills. Then again, he knows his patterns and reads the theory too, so maybe it’s just that he’d rather be playing on the computer than doing anything else.

On Saturday we had an in-house tournament – it was pretty enjoyable even though there were not many people – maybe 20 or 25. We had to perform our patterns competitively (2 people at a time, not necessarily doing the same thing) and we had a knockout sparring competition. Tim did really well in the sparring, coming second overall even though he was the lowest belt level competing. I lost my match, but enjoyed it immensely. I came second in the junior patterns (junior with respect to belt level) so that was very pleasing.

The more you learn, the more you realise how much you don’t know !!! I am now able to follow along on most things (even reverse turning kicks) but on so many things, my actual technique is shocking. I have worked for months on being able to do pushups which I am almost able to do passably, but I now need to focus on flexibility, especially hamstrings. Without sufficient strength and flexibility in my legs, my kicks lack power and definition. There’s a long way to go, but it’s still really enjoyable. We did a full day seminar on sparring (step sparring in the morning, free sparring in the afternoon) and it was really enjoyable.

We had our grading on today – it was quite stressful, especially as white belts went first, so we had no idea of what to expect. It seemed to go quite smoothly, although my techniques could improve a lot and I haven’t quite got a sine wave going. I’m very pleased to have achieved my yellow belt (8th gup) and proud of Tim for grading to 9th gup.

I am really enjoying the challenge of learning something physical, and I’ve started going 3 times a week. Tim is enjoying himself too, but is happy to stay at 2 times per week.