The fated day has finally passed. After months of preparing and nitpicking, the 16th of August swung around and breezed by like no other. I will forever remember this day, because the 16th was when I finally tested for my black belt.
For the whole of my three or so years of martial arts career, there was a single thought that lingered far in the back of my mind: getting a black belt. What would testing be like? Would it be hard? Would I crack under pressure? Every now and again, the scenario would pop into my head. I would do this kick at this time, incorporate this move, be a total baller... typical daydream thoughts.
Then one day I was told that in about three months time I would finally make my daydreams a reality and test for my final belt. Of course the news was a bit of a wake up call. I would get nervous just thinking about the day, but as August 16th crept closer and closer my nerves faded more and more.
That was until the day finally came.
Now the testing itself took place at a different location from the martial arts school I study at. The class is taught by my instructor's teacher. He would be the man to judge me as I completed the necessary parts of testing. His school came with its own set of students that were all relatively strangers to me. As if testing wasn't hard enough.
The nerves hit me then. After the mats were set down, and we bowed in, nervousness held my heart in a unyielding grip. Maybe I would forget my form or mess up on the basics. What if I can't break the eight boards laying so innocently on the ground? What would happen if I fail? These were the thoughts that tried to ground me, but I shoved them away to focus on the present. Like the forms.
The first thing after basic movements during testing was demonstrating my knowledge of the five forms every taekwondo student must know to pass the test. I stood in the middle of the room with my fellow tester and preformed each form as they were called out.
I can't seem to remember the exact order of forms I had to demonstrate. It was about the third or the fourth one he called out that I messed up. Talk about nerve racking. Luckily the second time around it was perfect and I loved to the next action: performing my own form.
When testing for a black belt in taekwondo, you must create your own form. Basically, you take all your favorite and best movements and shove them into a logical sequence. Due to my procrastination, I started on the creation of my form a little late, so it wasn't exactly easy to remember when the time came to show it off to my teachers and peers. Thankfully, it was smooth sailing.
The next thing to cross off the list was one step sparring. The jest of this is that a peer will come at you with a basic attack and you react to it. There are 17 of these to remember. This was a relatively simple test because I had the same partner as I typically did during practice and I knew the steps. However I was still a little nervous.
The third thing was board breaking. This is a fun and cool looking act for most people, but these boards have given me plenty of trouble in the past. When it came to them during testing I just wanted to get them over. Looking back at it now, it could very well be my favorite part. I went through those eight boards with far more ease than any of the boards in last nine belt tests.
The last part was sparring and language. Sparring is difficult, typically due to stamina. Who you fight with, how much strength, and for how long is a big concern while testing. Depending on the amount of people you spar, you must be sure not to use so much energy—otherwise you'll be dead on your feet later when you start fighting the other higher belts. Now that's hard. Bruises still decorate my legs from that day.
The other part is language. Basically you have to know a certain amount of words in Korean. Honestly, this was one of the easiest parts for me. All it needed was memorization.
Black belt testing was difficult and fun. It will forever be a memorable experience and I am incredibly happy with the results.
