last month, i tested for the 1st degree black belt in hapkido, along with my partner, tony. overall, that test was surprisingly a lot of fun. (we knew the material, and thought it was grueling hours long, we kept calm and just went through it.) but on the other side, it was -quite- physically demanding.
so, the next class time, our instructor had two black belts for us; 'working' belts, he called them, as the honorary belts would have our names stitched into them.
last night, we received those belts. but first, we were to perform a demo of our art for the tang soo do school that shares our dojang. a lot of younger kids were in attendance, a few young teens, and even fewer adults. with that many kids, and the 'mysteriousness' of the hapkido students who show up twice a week, we figured we could do some flashy, painful throws and joint locks that would dazzle them.
seemed to work. we started with the 15 handshakes, taking them all to completion (ending with a throw, i mean). then we did punch-cover-punches, 1st set of wrist techniques, and ended with some knife defenses. the children (and the rest of the crowd) just ate it up. they were very vocal, and they seemed to be very sympathetic to my cause; since tony is a good bit bigger than i am, his throws hurt quite a lot. the other students loved it all, and it was good times.
afterwards, we received our new belts, with our names etched into one side, with one stripe for 1st degree, and 'hap ki do' on the other end of the belt.
then the demo was over, and the hapkido instructors and students kind of found our corner to chat in, just hanging out. we didn't think too much about the impact the demo had on the younger students until i heard childlike voices arguing softly behind me among the general hubbub of the crowd. i turned around, and two young boys visibly startled and hopped back. i smiled and leaned down so i wouldn't be standing over them, and asked how they were doing. they very nervously told me how what we had done looked 'very painful', and kind of teetered off after that. i figured they were impressed, but scared of us after that brutal demo. i thanked them, shook both of their hands, and they stuck around for a while listening to the 'hapkido' people chatting.
so, if anyone's still reading, i just wanted to share a story of some good times with some people i figured would enjoy it. got any good stories? share them here!
:asian:
so, the next class time, our instructor had two black belts for us; 'working' belts, he called them, as the honorary belts would have our names stitched into them.
last night, we received those belts. but first, we were to perform a demo of our art for the tang soo do school that shares our dojang. a lot of younger kids were in attendance, a few young teens, and even fewer adults. with that many kids, and the 'mysteriousness' of the hapkido students who show up twice a week, we figured we could do some flashy, painful throws and joint locks that would dazzle them.
seemed to work. we started with the 15 handshakes, taking them all to completion (ending with a throw, i mean). then we did punch-cover-punches, 1st set of wrist techniques, and ended with some knife defenses. the children (and the rest of the crowd) just ate it up. they were very vocal, and they seemed to be very sympathetic to my cause; since tony is a good bit bigger than i am, his throws hurt quite a lot. the other students loved it all, and it was good times.
afterwards, we received our new belts, with our names etched into one side, with one stripe for 1st degree, and 'hap ki do' on the other end of the belt.
then the demo was over, and the hapkido instructors and students kind of found our corner to chat in, just hanging out. we didn't think too much about the impact the demo had on the younger students until i heard childlike voices arguing softly behind me among the general hubbub of the crowd. i turned around, and two young boys visibly startled and hopped back. i smiled and leaned down so i wouldn't be standing over them, and asked how they were doing. they very nervously told me how what we had done looked 'very painful', and kind of teetered off after that. i figured they were impressed, but scared of us after that brutal demo. i thanked them, shook both of their hands, and they stuck around for a while listening to the 'hapkido' people chatting.
so, if anyone's still reading, i just wanted to share a story of some good times with some people i figured would enjoy it. got any good stories? share them here!
:asian:
artyon:
