Hello Everyone
Well today’s blog has three topics. First up, Morning Taekwondo class. Our morning Taekwondo class here at Cobourg Tae Kwon Do consist of midage to older adults who have started martial arts for the first time or are coming from others styles that they have done when they were much younger or as children. It is nice to see such a variety of age, experience, and skill level. What remains the same with all of them is their commitment to martial arts, fitness, and in general improving their lives from the physical to the mental, and to the spiritual. Many different types of people coming together for one goal and having fun doing it. It is like they have their own little family when they come into class together. it is a nice friendly environment for me to work in. It’s the same atomsphere as the evening adult class. I enjoy working with all these adults who are so eager to learn and to improve upon themselves. It’s a great feeling.
Second, grading. Grading night on Friday November 27th was a good night. Master Joyce Farrell and myself work them real hard during the warmup. To most people our warmups are the workout, then we get to the rest of the workout. He He. We had 12 students going for various levels of ranks from yellow belt all the way up to red belt with black stripe. We went through all the punching drills, blocking drills, kicking, patterns, sparring, and board breaking. Master Joyce and I were super strict on form and effort. Anything not up to par resulted in everyone doing push ups. Even if only one person wasn’t doing what they needed to be doing, everyone has to play the price. I figure if you are in my class or in a grading, everyone has to work together. We are a team. One person fails, we all do. Grading nights have been every good over the past few years as we are getting stricter and place a higher demand on our students as my instructors and black belts here place a higher demand on themselves.
Third, the special award. I have been thinking about this one for a while. See our black belt gradings have a special award. The challenger’s cup. The cup goes to the student who represents the the ideals of being a black belt. They take their martial arts training to a whole new personal level. These students take martial arts as a way of life. They are martial artists. They are just not people who take classes once in awhile. They strive to improve their physical, mental, and spiritual wellbeing and spread it to others. Jeff Morrow was the first to win the Challenger’s Cup at his 1st Dan Black Belt grading. He was the true leader of that grading and I don’t think a lot of the others could have made it without his guidance. Way to go Jeff. Anyway I thought the colour belts needed to be recongized as well. So I came up with the certificate of Admiration. The first ever winner of this certificate was Selena O’Reilly. She has taken her training very seriously and has made it a way of life. She does Taekwondo, Fitness Kickboxing, and Kettlebells with me. She also has a personal trainer a few times a week. She eats very healthy, and makes her kids too. She is a positive role model for her children as well as other students. She is a martial artist.
Okay, gotta go train. Thanks for reading.
Master Jonathan Field