Adam’s Cerebral Spillage

Yesterday we gathered students from all three of the different schools in the county currently training under our Kwan’s banner and got together for a big training session. It was the first steps toward the European championships being held this spring, and it was to give us a chance to have a look at what categories we might want to compete in. It was an early start for a Sunday morning, I’d normally be tucked up snoozing at 7.30, but instead I was in the kitchen ironing my dobok and making some sandwiches. It was absolutely perishingly cold too, there was ice outside and just after we got to the dojang in Falmouth it started pouring with snow. Conversely the dojang was really warm inside thanks to the central heating, a blessing which soon turned into a curse once we started exercising, it wasn’t long before I was dryer than a <insert dubious metaphor here> and gasping (although having a cold didn’t help my cause any).

The day was a great success, we all mixed and worked with people we wouldn’t normally train with or speak to, and everyone got on well. Everyone got a taste of competition style performing, being marked and feeling what it was like to perform in front of a crowd of people, and I think it was a bit of an eye-opener for some. While the first half of the day was entirely forms-based, the afternoon saw the stark contrast of sparring. After some tough strength-building exercises things got moving and everyone got to feel what it was like to throw, and more importantly take a punch or kick. We organised a mini-tournament towards the end of the day and stood out (as seniors) to referee and take charge of the teams. It was really encouraging to see how into it everyone was getting, so much so that the fighters couldn’t hear us screaming ’stop!!’ when we wanted to award points. Seeing and talking to some of the junior students afterwards, for many of whom this was their first taste of proper sparring, it was a real flashback to my own first tastes of it. Everyone was buzzing and grinning and saying they wanted to get back in and go again, which is always a good sign. Sure, there are going to be some bumps and bruises today, and at least one black eye, but that’s all part of it. Six-and-a-half hours after we started and a few of us trundled down to the local pub for a quick pint and a natter.

Actually it would be remiss of me to not mention the other thing that happened before the end of the session while I’m at it. Everyone was asked to sit, and then I was told to stand, walk to the front and turn to face everyone. In all of the excitement of the day I forgot that I was due to have my black (blue) belt presented to me. Sadly I’ve seen enough of these presentations to not know what was coming next, the legendary ‘Chilli powder test’. Lots of martial arts clubs like to take their newly promoted students down a peg or two to make sure ego doesn’t get the better of them, for some it’s a run down the line as the rest whip them with their belts as they go, for us it’s the chilli powder test. ‘Chilli powder’ is a bit of a misnomer, as times and tastes have changed, so just plain chilli powder doesn’t cut it any more. No, today our instructor likes to mix things up with his own concoctions, and it wasn’t until after that I found out what was in mine. A spoonful of the ’stuff’ was pushed into my mouth and then I was told to do twenty good pushups in front of the assembled mass without swallowing any or spitting any out, with everyone counting them out for me (and don’t think I didn’t notice those of you who tried to reset the count partway through!). I took my trusty old red belt off and had my new one tied around me, and then made a hasty retreat to the kitchen to rinse my mouth out! It turns out that my own personal blend of heat was a mixture of chillies, chilli sauce, rehydrated chillies that you’re not supposed to touch with bare hands(!), a tub of wasabi paste and to top it off, a sachet of the sauce from a Bombay Bad Boy pot noodle. Nice.

I’m enormously proud of what I’ve achieved, and it was made all that more special by having it presented to me in front of the rest of the students. It still hasn’t sunk in yet really, maybe once it does I’ll have more to post, but I think I’m going to be kept pretty busy in the meantime now. Here’s what my 1st Dan certificate looks like (it feels good writing that).

My 1st Dan certificate - this one's going in a frame!

Technorati Tags 1st Dan, belt presentation, chilli test, sparring, tang soo do, training

I’ve tried to think of a clever title for this entry for ages, but I’ve failed each and every time. It’s one I’d always hoped I’d have to write at some point, I just hadn’t expected to creep up on me so quickly. In a nutshell, I passed my 1st Dan (Black Belt) grading.

Seeing it written down like that is strange, and if I’m honest it still hasn’t sunk in yet. I don’t think that’ll happen until I’m actually presented with the belt and certificate, which hopefully will be around the end of the month, and I imagine it’ll start to hit home then. Perhaps fittingly, I found out I passed on the 4th, which was exactly four years to the day since my very first lesson. Four years, wow.

This isn’t going to turn into a misty-eyed retrospective, I’ve done that far too often in the past on here, but it’s nice to have a little bit of reflection and to get it down on paper (well, recorded in bits and bytes at least). The grading tests themselves were tough, and for different reasons; the physical was obviously very demanding, the written test gave my brain a bashing, and the essay made me take a good look at myself. It’s done now though, and although I didn’t do as well as I’d like to (isn’t that always the case?) I did well enough to earn my belt. There’ll probably be a few people out there who’d find it strange when I say that I won’t be getting a black belt, but rather a midnight blue one, but it’s essentially the same thing. Tang Soo Do traditionally uses midnight blue, as this is what the founder chose. The reasons for choosing it are a matter of debate for some, but it’s the same thing.

The strangest feeling for me is that there isn’t the sense of completion that I’d anticipated when I first started training. Some people (most I’d imagine) look on the black belt as being quite final, the end of a journey, but it’s perfectly apparent to me now that this isn’t the case. I’m very proud of myself for seeing it through this far, because I’m a serial starter-of-things-I’ll-never-see-through, but I can genuinely see how this is far from the end of something, it’s just the start of something new, a continuation of what I’m already doing. After all, it’s only 1st Dan right, there’s still another 9 to work toward .

I’d also just like to take the time here and now to thank everyone involved in my progress one way or another up until now. My instructors, my fellow students and everyone who showed me some support along the way. It was all appreciated, from people telling me I could do it, to people kicking my ass all over the dojang.

Onwards and upwards.

Technorati Tags 1st Dan, black belt, grading, tang soo do