Time flies

Here he is, our black belt.  I can't believe how fast five years has flown by!

                  Philip starting out as a "Pee-Wee"

And, Tah-dah!  Here he is today as a Jr. black belt!  He may only be half Korean, but he's more Korean than I'll ever be!   He's got a black belt in Korean tae kwon do along with a belt with his name written in Korean on it!  Cool!

                                Testing for first degree black belt

Update on the black belt

So, being the picture freak that I am,  I tend to only like to blog if I have a picture to go with it. Philip did indeed earn his black belt, but we had to wait awhile for his new uniform to come in, which it has, but now I need to get a black ribbon-thingy sewed around the collar, which I have yet to do.  Thus there is no picture of Philip with his new black belt uniform, thus there has been no blogging from me.  Thought I should at least give an update though on this topic as Philip really worked hard and did a great job with everything and did earn his black belt.  It was very exciting and I will post pictures of him in his new uniform soon.

What'da ya know I did have some pictures to post with this blog.  I kept everyone waiting for nothing!

Getting ready to run at 7 AM on Sunday - when they get to the top of Garin hill, that's where the "real" testing takes place.

Almost to the studio.

Everyone waited on the corner of Mission Blvd. near the karate studio to cheer the group on as they came down the street.  (As you can see Paul is very into cheering his brother on as he is glued to his video game! : )

Philip & his partner for the black belt test.  They seemed to be evenly matched in size! : )

                               And here he is with his new black belt!

"Almost" a black belt --- Look out Chuck Norris! ; )

Philip will be testing this weekend for his black belt.  He has a five hour test on Saturday, which includes a 3-5 mile run followed by carrying someone on his back up Garin hill (for those of you who may not know, Garin is a pretty steep hill, takes me about 10-15 minutes to walk it, moving at a pretty good clip).  From what I understand that's not even the difficult part of the test!  Apparently once they reach the top of the hill, they have all sorts of sprints and things they need to do.  The test is then continued the next day on Sunday morning.  He has a list of Korean words (karate moves) that he had to learn and he also had to write a short essay.  If he passes his evaluation he will be considered a junior black belt.  You cannot become a full fledged black belt until you are sixteen.  Once he earns his black belt he will be in a probationary period for six months.  All I have to say is I hope that the instructor busts out a scale to weigh the kids, because I don't want Philip's back getting jacked up from carrying someone that's too heavy up that hill!!  Philip said he got paired up with a kid that weighs 125 lbs for a wheel barrel race last Saturday. (Philip weighs about 75 lbs!)  Other than this I think he will do fine.

Here are some pix of him getting his black/red belt last month.

                    Paul and Sammy videotaping for me

Tae Kwon Do - Paul

Paul just evaluated for his red belt.  He did AWESOME!  It's a pretty grueling evaluation.  He performed six or so forms which can be anywhere from 16 - 35 movements each.  He had all sorts of kicks, punches, and jumps to remember and do.  He had to perform several "one steps" which are a series of self defense moves.   He spared two people at the same time.  He broke two boards - one with a side kick and one with a front kick.  The board breaking is pretty exciting to watch.  And finally he had to do as many front kicks and side kicks as he could in one minute and 30 push ups.  WHEW!  It's wearing me out just typing it all out here!  Great job Paulie!  We are SO proud of you.  Keep up the great work!

Here he is breaking the board with a front kick!  (Notice, the broken board.)

Paul

Here is Paul testing (picture to the left) for and receiving (belt ceremony below) his brown advanced belt.  

Philip should be testing to go up for his black/red belt the beginning of July.