Last night, with 90 degree weather and 90% humidity, I took my orange belt test. It started off pretty routinely: 100 jumping jacks, 25 push-ups and 75 crunches. I was one of 8 yellow belts testing for orange. So the upper belts went in the next room for kicks and defense testing.
4 yellow belts tested on forms and I was on the sidelines waiting/watching. 2 guys asked to go again - which totally surprised me because that NEVER happens in testing. Then my group of 4 tested on forms. I think I did fairly well but I know what I could work on. At least I didn't need to go again! There was a poor lonely white belt testing for yellow who did horribly on basic forms. I felt so embarrassed for her. We ended this station by holding a horse stance for what felt like forever. My poor quads...
We were then moved onto the kicks station. I did the worst at this station because I lost my balance a couple times (my cold messing with my inner ear). It's like I can only focus on one extra thing while testing on kicks. Since I remembered the critique from yellow belt testing, that I don't pivot my hips enough, I went overboard on pivoting yet I sacrificed chambering my kicks. Basically, I looked like a flailing pivoting, spazz. We ended this part of testing with a sustained V sit-up. I was DYING.
The next station I loved. We did self-defense and were tested on memorized terms. I completely turned into a Hermione Granger at this station. If a classmate was asked to recite pledge #3 and struggled, I was bouncing on my toes and using eyes to plead to answer the question. In fact, one of the instructors teased me about it in the locker room. How should a geek act? Another cool part of this station was that I heard my first praise during testing. I have good footwork for self-defense! By the end, all of us were soaked with sweat and since we ended with self-defense, some of the sweat was someone else's. If I did pass this test, I bet I will have a lot of feedback!
No comments:
Post a Comment