5th Degree Black Belt Testing
Saturday, March 11, 2006
Finally the big day arrived! We had an iaido class in Utica on Friday night - that was a pretty good time. We spent most of the class practicing the three basic katas: Ten no Kata (Kata of Heaven), Chi no Kata (Kata of Earth), and Jin no Kata (Kata of Man.) So it didn't take a tremendous amount of thought - just focus, focus, focus on the movements for about an hour.
After a night of tossing and turning I had a very good breakfast at Denny's (a scrambled egg & ham sandwich, hashbrowns, and a bagel -…great stuff!) and then it was off to the Utica training hall for the test.
Turns out there were only four of us testing - Jim Colasurdo and Cindy Prentice from Rochester (both of whom I'd worked with prepping for the test) and Terry Hommel and me from Albany (ditto.) Overall, a great group to be testing with. Nobody out to prove anything, and everyone concerned for the safety and well-being of the others.
We spent the first hour working on the written exams. Mine had a fair number of essay questions, as well as lots of short answer. Some of the essays took some thought - they were mostly the sorts of questions that didn't have a right answer, but definitely had some better and some worse answers. On the whole, though, it wasn't as difficult as I'd been expecting (and from what I heard afterwards, was easier than the 4th degree written exam.)
After that came the physical portion of the test. We warmed up with some punches, then jumped into basic forms. After running through half a dozen of the standard 36, we worked on some moving strikes that aren't part of the standard curriculum, and got pointers on how we can do some of those better. Then we went through most of the Ippon Kumite combinations. And then it was time for katas. In some ways I was fortunate - other than Pal-gwe 1, I got to concentrate on the katas needed for 5th degree: Heian Shodan, Hookiyu, and Hansoo. The other candidates did many of the Pal-gwes, plus a variety of Black Belt katas (above and beyond their required forms.) On the other hand, while the katas I was doing are in some ways fairly basic, there are many fine points involved which I didn't always get right, so I ended up doing each one several times, and got some feedback on how I could be doing them better.
Once we had finished with katas, it was time for self-defense: 1st empty hand, then take downs, then knives, and finally guns. I was paired up with Terry, which was a real pleasure. He's a great partner to work with. Though he did seem a bit surprised at times that he was ending up on the mat - what can I say, I like putting people of the ground when I'm defending myself. It seemed like this part of the test flowed really well - I think it was one of my best sections. (I heard afterwards that Jim Colasurdo's partner, another instructor who'd been brought in to help with self-defense and sparring, was a challenge - so Jim ended up having to thump him quite a bit to make his techniques work. I definitely lucked out!)
The sparring stayed pretty sane this time, with each of the other candidates sparring first one, then two, and finally three partners. Apparently I've sufficiently paid my dues in previous testings, because all of my sparring was as one member of a 2 or 3 person team. With only four of us testing, that was over pretty quickly, and then we had a LONG wait while the judges conferred in the office.
Once they came back out, I demonstrated some seated self-defense techniques, which went moderately well considering I was making them up as I went along (I understand the basic principles Grand Master Crandall is looking for, but we really haven't done much to practice those types of techniques.) Then I had a quick ground-fighting match with Terry (he took me to the ground and I put a choke hold on him) and an even quicker one with Jim (who stepped up, threw himself to the ground, and tapped out as soon as I picked up his wrist and gave it a slight twist - everybody was cracking up, including the the judges.)
After that we had an oral question-and-answer session, where Grand Master Crandall talked about some of the questions from the written exams (mostly in the vein of "You need to look that up in your textbook!") and asked us some extremely tough questions about katas and the development/applicability of different martial arts styles. That was a challenge not only because the questions were tough, but also because we were standing out on the floor with out muscles stiffening and and cramping, and all our bumps and bruises starting to clamor for attention (once again, back to that idea of "focus, focus, focus"!)
Finally, one more brief trip to the office, during which we tried to stretch and limber back up and hoped we wouldn't have to do anything more, and then we got the news that we all passed and were presented with the new tips for our belts. And then it was over, except for some picture-taking!
I'm very fortunate to have tested with this group... they are all fantastic people and made the testing very special (as well as prepping for the test.) I feel fairly good about this one (unlike my 4th degree test! After that one I felt my performance was really pretty pathetic!) though there are some things I wish I had done better (but then - that would always be the case.) And best of all - it will be a long time before I have to do it again!
So saving the most important part for last - a few thank you's:
Ann - for putting up with me being cranky and bad-tempered, and loving me despite that
Miss Moller - for being a good supportive friend
Master Hillicoss - for all he's done to get me to where I am today. He is my instructor, and I couldn't ask for a better mentor to follow along the martial way. And I am honored to consider him a good friend as well.
JMH
