Saturday, March 03, 2007

It's New! It's Yellow! It's a Belt!

Robbie passed his test today! After a few heart-stopping moments, he made it through, and is now a brand-spanking new yellow belt. Rob took some pictures, but hasn't downloaded them yet. If he does, I'll edit and add them to the post.

He did great on his katas. No missed steps, lots of power, and a much better Seisan stance than he had even a few weeks ago. He needs to lower his targeting (It looked like he was fighting someone two feet taller than him.), stop cocking his wrist, and bring his off hand back to his belt after his strike, but other than that, they looked really good.

The heart-stoppers came with matters of etiquette rather than with the test itself. He couldn't manage to hold still while his compatriot tested for her orange belt, he kept bopping around by the window. He couldn't keep quiet when Sensei would make a comment - he had to argue every point (like saying he could see with peripheral vision when Sensei asked him to look where he was kicking). Plus, he called Sensei by his first name once during the test - oops! Sensei had to speak pretty sternly to him about three times during the test to get him back on track. I feel a little guilty about the first name thing. I call Sensei by his first name (by his request) everywhere but in class, and Robbie's picked it up from me.

I was so damned nervous during this test. I don't expect I'll be half that tense at my own test - after all, I can control my behavior. All I could do during Robbie's test was a combination of significant looks, and attempting to develop telepathy through sheer willpower.

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