We had our last class of the semester the Sunday before last. I'm not sure why we end so early. It was actually a testing day and I was surprised since we had just tested in October. Anyway, it seems the yellow belts test for a green 'stripe' before the end of the semester. Perhaps this is to keep people motivated to come back next semester since unless we pass the test (nobody seems to right away), we only get the stripe next semester after remedying what we need to.
Anyway... my test results said that I needed work on most of my 'spinning' type kicks and some others too: Given that I've done these kicks for a few odd weeks, I didn't need to take a test to realize this.
* spin stomp kick
* wheel kick
* tornado kick
* moving spin back kick
* front roundhouse kick
I don't know how much the names will convey, possibly other schools use different names and I don't know the Korean equivalents.
In addition, though I performed Dan-Gun reasonably, apparently I did badly at Chon-ji, the earlier form; my stances weren't deep enough and I didn't show enough power. I made a resolution to practice my forms at least over the month long break, if nothing else, so lets see how that goes.
The main event of the night was two girls testing for their brown belts. They first did many different combinations of kicks and punches, the longest maybe 6 or 7 in a row. Then they performed their forms. They sparred against each other, then against 4 black and brown belts. Next, they broke boards with hook and side kicks. Finally, 10 knuckle pushups (that seemed too few...maybe they were asked to do less because they're girls?). I wonder if they got their belts. To be honest, everything didn't look 'flawless' to me, maybe its not supposed to. I guess I was thinking at that level, they would test almost perfectly. Green belts and blue belts testing for a stripe broke boards with flying side kicks, which was entertaining to watch.
We start classes again in the beginning of January, and I am somewhat glad of the break. For a while, my time in the evenings will not be allotted wholly to Taekwondo. Also, I've been worrying about a stitch in my side that's been bothering me for a few weeks now. I tend to associate it with when I got hit in the tummy, or having strained something in my side, though by now it might be (psychological, i.e.) complicated by the fact that I was very worried and stressed about being hit hard during sparring.
On 12/11: I am sure my body will regret the break. I can feel my kicks getting rusty. It takes so much motivation to practice on your own even a 10th of what we do in class!
3 comments:
Tornado kick - I've heard of it, but I've never seen it. Can you describe it please?
As I understand, Tornado kick:
1. Start in fighting stance (body facing right, face forward). Finally, the left leg will be the kicking leg.
2. Start twisting from your torso towards the right, keeping feet in place so legs begin to cross. Try to turn almost 270 degrees -- the belly first faces the back, then the left. At this point, your right leg is crossed in front of your left.
3. Raising the knee of the right leg, keep spinning in the same direction (to complete the last 90 degrees of the turn) on your left leg.
4. When almost facing the front, the upward motion of the right knee pulls the left foot of the ground into the kick, whose arc is from outside to in. By this time, your right foot should have landed on the ground.
Here's a video where tornado kick seemed to be pretty effective.
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/76104/tornado_kick/
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