Saturday, June 13, 2009

Going for Green


Guess who tested for green belt today. He did a fantastic job. I wish I had been able to videotape him breaking boards; he broke his on the very first kick! It was awesome. Thomas had missed a lot of classes after his ear surgery, and I realized on Monday just how far behind he was, so he spent all week practicing and working really, really hard to learn all the moves and get ready for today. Brian and I couldn't have been more proud of just how far he came in such a short period of time! I think we might just be headed toward a green belt promotion! Great job today, Tom!

3 comments:

Becky G said...

That looks great! Can I offer a bit of unsolicited advice? I noticed two simple things that he can improve and it will make his form look much better. One is that he looks at his feet a lot. If he will keep his head up, his form will look much better. The second thing is that when he takes his step, he lifts his back foot up a bit. Keeping both feet on the floor makes his stance more stable.

I'm sorry if I've overstepped my bounds, but when I judge at tournaments, these are the two major things I look at when judging kids of his rank and age--focus and stances. He is doing great, though! Keep up the good work.

SJ said...

Thanks Becky! Those are both good points, and we're always up for pointers. Brian and I try to help, but since we don't do it ourselves, we have to rely on bits and pieces of information, so it gets tricky some times!

We are still working on both as he does have trouble with them, though at his company the other kids his same age seem to all do about the same. He was so funny when I took the video because he never goes outside barefoot, so he was worried about stepping on a stick or something! (He does always look down though anyway... )

At Monday's class he didn't know a single part of the poomsae, and watching him look to the other kids and try to copy was just devastating right before a belt test! We were so happy that he learned as much as he did in such a short time. =)

SJ said...

Oh yeah, and Brian asked him after what the move is called where you take your belt and twirl it around. =) My Mr. Thomas is always in his own little world! =)