Week One
As this was the month that the grading was going to be, we decided to put a large focus on what we wanted to practice over the course of the month. We first went around the room asking what each person believed that they needed to work on. Many people suggested that we work on step sparring, theory, patterns (also known as forms, or kata) and Sparring. After we discussed what needed to be worked on, we all decided on what days we would do what as some people don't normally come on the Thursday (which is the other class at the same hall), so we decided to start with some step sparring and sparring.
During sparring, I was trying to identify my style of sparring and my guard, as if I passed this grading I would become a Blue belt which was considered a senior belt. So, I wanted to make sure I had the basics down and could be looked up to rather than looked down upon.
"If a person can't tell you their flaws, then they have a dangrous lack of self-awareness"
Week two
Week two was mainly spent running through linework to practice our theory and then patterns. In this grading, I would have to do 5 patterns:
- Chon-Ji (19 Moves)
- Dan Gun (21 Moves)
- Do San (24 Moves)
- Won Hyo (28 Moves)
- Yul Gok (38 Moves)
Working on these patterns move by move allowed me to focus on how each move could be strung together to create flowing movement inside of my pattern performance.
Week Three
Week three was mainly spent on peer assessment, where two of us would perform a pattern of the judges' choice, and then we would give pointers on how they could improve. This method is a great way to get a different view on how we look when performing our patterns.
Week Four
This week was spent with every lesson being a pretend grading where we would go through everything that was to be expected of us:
- Identification
- Sparring
- Step-Sparring
- Line Work
- Patterns
- Pad Work
It was now time for the grading!
The Grading
Feeling ready and fully confident that I knew my content, I felt like I was ready to get an A, however, this grading presented a different take with us having two examiners that had never examined us before. We started off with our identification, followed quickly by pad work as an act of warming up. We then did our step-sparring and patterns along with some line work. The last two things we did were free sparring (contact) and theory. I believe that the sparring went rather well, and I answered all the theory questions with ease and precision.
The Results: In the end, I passed my grading with an A! So I'm now officially an ITF 4th kup (Blue Belt).
Upcoming LTSI Competition!
I'm also excited to announce that Chris and I will be attending and competing in the LTSI competition on the 9th of March, so if you're going, see you there. Remember to stay tuned for an update on how the competition goes!
