Attended the Spring 2010 Black Belt Testing
Personally being friends with seven of the 1st Degree candidates and friends/acquaintances with all three 2nd degree candidates and five of the 3rd degree candidates made this Black Belt Test very meaningful.
I thought I learned a lot watching 1st degree kids testing last time. I learned about 200% more this time. In additional to cheering everyone on, I focused on the “logistics” of the testing. I know KJN Joe will prepare us to do well during the testing but the more I can figure out things ahead, the better it is for me. (Part of the control freak in me)
My biggest aha this time is my endurance is still not what it needs to be. Testing day is exhausting especially for the adults.
Here is the schedule they went through
- Arrive some time around 7:15am.
- Testing starts at 8am.
- Test for 2 hours straight with no break!
- Short break then some practice for the evening show.
- Watch the under 13 year, 1st degree testing.
- ALL testers practiced for the evening show.
- Couple hour break
- Return around 4pm
- Wait for the show to start at 5pm.
The show was over 3-1/2 hrs long! It didn’t end until close to 8:30pm.
The candidates then had to change and go out for the 1-hour conditioning test. After the conditioning, they had their victory lap followed by testimonials. They didn’t leave the field until after 11pm. All the Santa Teresa Black Belts then went for a celebration meal together. Since we were neither candidates nor Black Belts we didn’t feel we “earned” the right to attend. We want to save that special event for our celebration of new Black Belts.
We got home just before midnight and were exhausted. I was wiped out the whole next day. I kept thinking I didn’t even do anything close to what the candidates were going through. I have SO much more work to do.
In addition to our candidate class & sat conditioning class, I need to make sure I do some type of aerobic training every day. I have to at least triple my endurance level. I’m thinking I should still get up at 6am and workout at home. I have a treadmill and Wii Active. I also just ordered a power-walking video. I know I will be getting close when I can go to Sat conditioning training, then go straight into Sandy’s Sat Cardio class and at the end not be out of breath and dying.
My second aha is Raquel shouldn’t come watch us test in the morning. She won’t start testing until 10am and doesn’t need to be there until 9:30am. Being there for over 2 hours early may make it harder for her to last through to the conditioning test. Once the test is closer we will have to do some coordination with my family and some friends to figure out how to get Raquel to the test and just be her “support” for the whole day. This is the one down side to all of us testing. None of us can support each other on the day of the test. We each will have to have a family members or friend be our support. The upside to all of us testing together is we will be together a lot. Training is a big time commitment. I don’t have to be one of those parents who never see their children when they are training since Raquel will be right along side me.
I so blessed with the new friendships I made with the new Black Belts. I totally know they will be there to support us through our whole six months and be there for us on testing day. Having that support is very comforting!
More to come….
Cheryl
