Yellow-Orange Belt
I'm officially a half-belt now. The test was kind of a let-down, in that we did all of what was required in about 2 minutes, since we only did half the form, one one-stwp and one self-defense technique. He also had us demonstrate our ground-fighting technique, which was at least humorous since me and my partner had it down but it caught the three women completely off guard. The biggest let-downs, however, were what they didn't do--meaning that they didn't "promote" anyone to Black Belt Club--again. I was obviosuly disappointed for us, but I was angry about my son. He's young (5) and small for his age, but there are a good number of students that aren't as talented and misbehave constantly. Cowboy, on the other hand, has been working his butt off to be the best behaved kid in the school, and was flawless in the past few weeks. Even with that, we wouldn't be upset if we, as his parents, weren't pumping him up to try harder to get into BBC just to have him be disappointed. I think we're going to talk to the owner about it tonight. On another note--I found out today that I'm being reassigned in August to Montgomery, Alabama. So, when it all comes down to it, we have less than a year to go before we switch schools. |
Comments on "Yellow-Orange Belt"
Hey Lucky-- congrats on the promotion! I know you are disappointed in it being only a half belt (which I still think is nuts, but we've discussed that) and I can DEFINITELY understand you being upset about Cowboy not being promoted higher. That's nuts that you have to be INVITED into Black Belt club? Heck, I asked to upgrade, and I think that was at about the same level you are at now. And of course they said, "Yes, we want your money!" so I could get my gear, and practically told me that I had to join in order to progress. Definitely time to talk to the owner, methinks. Part of the whole ATA things is rewarding kids for their exemplary behavior and "black belt attitude", and if Cowboy has being doing that outright as you've said (I've got no reason to doubt that), he should be rewarded for it. So what if the other kids don't get promoted? Perhaps that would be motivation for them to shape up so they can be promoted too. As you know, life is not always democratic, and there are times that those who do the work earn better rights and privileges, and if being in BBC is one of those, then he should be invited in. I'm behind you on this, believe me!
PS-- just so you know, both you and my son are the same rank now, and it's taken him since April 2005 to get there! ;-)