Stress Free Test Prep

Things continue to improve for our main teacher since the previous Friday.  He was back on his feet a few days after getting knocked flat.  The final thought was that he had a heart attack, but it didn't appear to be the case.  To confirm that, today he goes in today to get an angiogram.  I have my fingers crossed it'll all be good.  

While the school evens it's keel, my program has remained the same.  Practice the basics, learn the words and work on Chil Sun Ee Ro to get ready for the virtual tournament.  It's not a lot of time to practice, so I'm a little concerned that I'll be turning in a substandard video, but the nice thing about this is that you can take continuous takes until you feel good about it!  Nice.  

We had most of the class out yesterday so it was just me and Mr. Schwartz being led by Jokyo Simonis.  She's pretty impaired by MS so she just tells us what to do and if I run into a problem with the Korean she tells me in English.  If a demo is needed Mr. Schwartz does a demo.  

Mondays, I have figured out, are basics and forms.  Since I'm essentially a white belt at this point I'm running through basics and trying to reinvent my personal wheel.  My current list is:

- Middle Punch
- High Punch 
- Middle Punch Opposite Side
- High Punch Opposite Side
- High Block
- Middle Block
- Low Block
- Knife Hand Block
- Stretch Kick
- Inside Outside Kick
- Front Thrust Kick
- Round house Kick - Rear Foot
- Round house Kick - Step through
- Round house Kick - Shuffle forward

I'm probably missing something here, but focused on my horrible roundhouses.  Everyone reminds me that I'm just coming back, etc, but I always thought I was so good at them.  My balance is shabby because I straighten my ground leg and I can can't quite look over my shoulder and hip anymore due to flexibility.  By the time we finish that section I'm starting to warm fully and become more stable.  

Colette and Andy SBNs have been working very hard behind the scenes on my behalf, which kind of embarrasses me. I really didn't walk in with any agenda other than working out, but they definitely want me to have my 1st/2nd Don via transfer, but it means they have to do political wrangling on my behalf.  So they go up the chain about what to do and how to go about it.  So they don't want me to buy a dobok (gi) until they sort out my perceived rank.  As part of this they seem to really want me to get rid of my Japanese belt.  Especially for the virtual test.  Colette has been trying to find a midnight blue belt (SBDs version of a black belt) for a few weeks with no luck, but Andy popped out last night to say high to the class and waved me over.  He gave me one of his old belts with his name covered!  I'm not sure I showed enough appreciation since we were in the middle of the class, but I think I'll send a message today about it.  

I need to wear my oldest gi tomorrow so I don't stand out too much and wear Andy's belt.