Sidekicks, whoa

[pegkerr]

Fiona had her double-black stripe class tonight, and it was a toughie. I got exhausted just from watching what pazlazuli put them through. Fiona spent half of dinner with her face literally buried facedown in the tablecloth, she was so whipped. "I'm convinced it's all an evil and nefarious plot," she mumbled seriously. "They save side kicks for the end of class because they're the hardest ones to do when you're tired."

pazlazuli, she's onto you.

Comments

[jhetley.livejournal.com]

Higher-level belt tests are _supposed_ to do that. If you don't end up collapsing in a corner, the sensei hasn't done her job.

[pegkerr.livejournal.com]

*laughs* Oh, she's doing her job, all right!

[jhetley.livejournal.com]

More seriously, I've given those tests. We looked for _will_ as much as skill. You only find out what the students have _learned_ when they are pushed beyond their limits.

"Does this student quit?"

[johnridley.livejournal.com]

Yeah, they've been telling us at TKD that when we get to black belt testing, we'll be sorry if we weren't paying attention for the last few years. Apparently our panel has never had a testing last less than 6 hours, and one went 10. There's a public "testing" but it's just for show. The real testing is just you and the panel, all day. They stop putting up with a lot of crud around blue belt level, which my son just got to.

Last night they took us lower belts through the red stripe requirements, just to let us play around while the one student (my son) who needed to learn that stuff got up to speed on them. I felt like a fish flopping around randomly. The spin kicks they do at my level (spin side, spin back) are pretty trivial in comparison. Spin axes, spin crescents, spin rounds and 360s are a lot different and I was NOT a pretty sight trying them; I was mainly trying not to fall down.

[pazlazuli.livejournal.com]

"hahaha" she laughs evilly and rubs her hands...
Good to know that I am appreciated!