I don't blog enough about Tae Kwon Do even though it is a significant part of my life. Tonight was especially amazing and inspirational, so I'm going to take you through the training session I did, play-by-play.
Class started at 6:00, so I arrived between 5:40 and 5:45 to get warmed up. It was a small class, five high ranking adults, so we had this rare opportunity to really break everything down and concentrate on perfecting our techniques. We started with strings of techniques, a drill in which we go down the line and each person adds a technique. This time we each added two for a string of ten techniques.
We started with kicking. The string was front kick, side kick, roundhouse kick, turning back kick, hopping front kick, side kick, roundhouse kick, turning wheel kick, flying front kick, hopping front kick. And, yes, I remember the techniques hours later because they were reinforced so well.
After completing the string, my instructor paused to do some intensive training on three of the kicks. We worked on the flying front kick, turning back kick, and turning wheel kick. With the flying front kick (think Daniel San's winning kick in The Karate Kid), we worked on the mechanics of covering both the horizontal and vertical distance. Then we went through the mechanics of both turning kicks, because they are so closely related. Starting with the turning back kick, my instructor pointed out the shifting of the feet as we pivot, where we keep our weight after we turn, how to align our bodies for maximum balance, and how to pop the kick out with the correct foot position. The only difference for the wheel kick is that instead of the kick coming straight out, it comes around and the pivot continues 360 degrees.
During this drill, I was called upon to help with the instruction, and that was a huge honor. I was asked to both hold the pad for the other students to kick and demonstrate the kicks (apparently mine are good; as they should be because I worked really hard for months). After being away at school, it felt amazing to still be sharp on my material and have that be noticed. And my instructor pointed out things I was doing that I didn't even notice, so that was a great teaching/learning moment.
After working on those kicks, we did a ten-string of hand techniques. This was far more challenging because we had to account for what both our hands and our feet were doing. The string was middle knife hand block, upper block, forward punch, retreating outside-in middle block, double punch, turning twin elbow strike, step into a palm strike, reverse ridge hand strike, shift to a front hand outside-in middle block in back stance, and a forward punch.
The strings were really good tonight!!!
After the strings, we did three forms as a class: Pal Gue Yuk, O, and Il Jang. Then it was time for FIGHT NIGHT!!
After the amazing, intensive class, we and the other students who arrived as we finished put on our sparring gear for an hour of fighting. I got in 5 fights, and it was so amazing to be back in that aspect of training. My first fight (and the first of the night) was with my instructor. She loves to fight, she taught me pretty much everything I know about sparring, and it was ridiculously fun to have a match with her.
My second match was with my friend who was the first person I ever sparred. I love getting to fight her because we grew together as fighters and I always learn something when I fight her. Then I had a fight with a junior, which was fun because I was able to give her a couple pointers to improve her fighting. She has such great spirit and I really enjoyed that match. My next partner was another friend of mine, the daughter of our schools Chief Master Instructor. That was fun because I had never fought her and I felt like we matched up well.
Finally, I had a bout with the other Master who was there. The first thing he asked was my age, and I think that was to gauge what I could handle, because the first thing he did was pin me against the wall. As I struggled to get to fighting distance, he said, "I'm not playing by the rules so you shouldn't either," and that was all the permission I needed to get out of that position. It was the dirtiest fight I had ever been in; he grabbed my uniform, my arms, my legs as I kicked, stepped on my feet, and as horrible as that sounds, I had an amazing time.
The thing that was so amazing about tonight is that it reminded me of what it means to be part of that school and what it means to be a black belt. As much as I love theater at school, I truly miss being able to train in that smelly, sweaty basement 5-6 days each week with the most awesome people ever. Our school is such a nurturing place to learn a martial art, and while at first I was skeptical about them calling the student population a family, we truly are, and I care deeply for every friend I have made through Tae Kwon Do.
Today is freaking awesome because of Tae Kwon Do, Fight Nigh, and finally feeling like a black belt again.
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