(Retroactive reflection 10.14.19) Shockingly, part of being a martial arts instructor is actually keeping up with my own martial arts practice. I've been pretty good about this over the years, attending my own class at least twice a week, for exercise as well as fun. However, what I have not been nearly as good at is keeping up with my testing. The way black belt testing works in American Kenpo, the system I practice, or at least at my school, is this: From white belt to brown belt, you advance in rank every three months. At brown belt, the process slows down considerably, and it takes about twelve to eighteen months to advance from brown to black belt. There are two levels of black belt, junior (for ages sixteen and under) and adult (for sixteen and up). Once you're a black belt, you can get 'degrees' on your belt, in order to keep training and advancing. One year after you get your black belt, you can test for first degree, then two years after that, second, and so on, all the way up to tenth, the highest kenpo ranking. I earned my junior black belt at twelve years old. By an unlucky series of events and timing, I somehow missed nearly every junior degree test offered, and went straight from junior to adult at age sixteen in fall 2016 without having earned any degrees. This seems to have foreshadowed my path of advancement through kenpo. By spring 2019, my boss was (jokingly) exasperated. At that point, if I had tested on time, I could be at second degree, but alas, I still had just a regular adult black belt. Through some hefty peer pressure by my coworkers and karate friends, and a promise by several of them to test alongside me, I was persuaded to sign up for my first degree exam just three months before the test was to take place (far less time than a usual prep cycle). In preparation, it definitely helped that I already knew most of the curriculum I needed, being so long overdue to test, and having taught a lot of it to students regularly. Even so, my coworkers and I committed several classes a week and even extended practice sessions on weekend mornings to practicing and polishing and prepping. I completed the written portion of the exam, attached below (and actually turned it in on time - more than many of my coworkers could say!) We even convinced my boss to rearrange the schedule for the day of the exam so that we could also teach our usual kids' classes beforehand. By the time the test came around, I was more than ready mentally. But memorization and preparation is only part of the black belt exam. The other part is strength, both physical and mental, to survive a six-hour testing day, to test endurance and flexibility, power and intensity. It had been a long time since I had been on this side of the exam, rather than seated at the judge's table with a clipboard and diligent notes. With the support of my friends, both from karate and from outside who had come to watch, I survived the day, and received my rank. I even stayed for the graduation ceremony that followed for the children receiving colored ranks, despite being encouraged quite forcefully to go home.Though exhausted and sweaty, I was happy. I was proud of my accomplishments, my dedication and my follow-through. Who knows, maybe in two years, I'll actually test for my second degree on schedule!
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