Saturday, August 28, 2010

Black Belt Clubbers

2010-08-19 20.23.09
I'm a little behind on posting because I have been sewing some stuff for my sister's surprise birthday shower which was last Saturday and I'll be showing those pictures soon.

Friday before we got on a plane the martial arts school had promotional rank testing and the boys were awarded their high yellow belts plus they got invited to the Back Belt Club (BBC)!!! This is a big deal for the boys and they wanted to join which is even more of a deal. I originally had to drag them to their first few classes they were not sure they liked it. Their self confidence has improved so much and so have their social skills. The instructors are great but strict at the same time. They have positive reinforcement that is great for the kids. In the picture they are holding their BBC blue uniforms, which they are getting their names and the name of the school embroidered on them. They were so excited and I was a little nervous for them. The testing was about 2 hours long but the last half hour was more for the board breakers. I usually never make it into the pictures because I'm the one taking them but you can see me in the reflection next to Rem's head...hehe! {I just noticed the whole picture didn't paste so you can't see me... : (  If you click on the picture it will take you to flickr and you can see me!!!} They worked so hard and they were sweating like crazy...I love it when they sweat!!!

Yesterday they had a board breaking seminar and of course I haven no pictures of that because they had us help, we were the coaches so when they practice at home we can help them. I really did not think they would let them break the boards it was happening so quick and there were quite a bit of kids in the class, but they did!!! They broke wood boards! I got a lecture on wood as well. A lighter piece of wood has less sap in it so it is not as wet. Wet wood tends to bend and is harder to break. If you have a board that is bent, break into the outside of the curve if you try and break into the curve it has bend and will be harder to break.

Here are the boards they broke!!! I am very proud of them. The had started them with a piece of paper for them to break to get their technique and balance. The instructor said it would be harder to break a piece of paper than wood because it bends. It looked pretty easy to me...haha! The boys did break the piece of paper in class. Sooo today I tried to break a piece of paper, I did the side kick they did and I did not break the piece of paper. It was really hard! I'm afraid to try wood because I think I would hurt myself...haha!

board breaking seminar