The Karate Kid

"Grasshopper...it is time to move up to Yellow Belt."

After spending an hour in the dojo, Logan moved up from white belt to yellow belt in his Shaolin Kempo Karate class. Proud Mama here was very excited to see how great he looked as he went through various moves, maneuvers, stances, poses, and defenses.

The testing of the Juniors (7-12 years) took one hour and began with jumping jacks, push ups and other warm-up exercises and then went into the various karate activities. One example front roll (or back roll) on a floor mat and jump up into a defense pose...otherwise risk getting bopped on the head by Sensei Nick who was at the end of the mat. Another example is lining up to face the Sensei and break free of a grip while bringing him down. All activities stress self-defense and disabling the attacker.

The funniest part was what a quiet group they are. In a previous post I explained how that the word "kia" {pronounced as KEY-YA}tightens up the stomach but I also learned it moves the organs to a different part of the body as well as announce to the world that you are being attacked. Going back to the funny part...there were only 2-3 kids who spoke it loud so Master Kadir gave them a gentle warning that he needed to hear all of them or there would be push ups for all. Throughout the hour they must have done 5-7 extra sets of push ups. Lots of groans from the students and laughter from the parents resulting in a few more kias here and there.

At the end and after the cool-down Master Kadir congratulated the nine students on moving up belt levels. There were many different colors being shown as this group of Juniors was mixed. Different belts had different stances and goals to reach.

It was a great experience for Logan. His jumping jacks were high. His push ups were deep. His running in place unbelievably fast, high knee-ed, with hands protecting face the whole time. His kias were quiet BUT his kicks and punches were loud, hard, and fast. I felt sorry for the young man -- who was a head taller than Logan -- who had to hold up the kick/boxing pad for Logan. He looked amazing!

Congratulations Logan! You are my favorite Karate Kid!

Now let's bring my blog back to me. I almost sat next to Bill but he was saving a seat for Betsy. So I took the other empty seat in the front row one (last one) next to that seat. Hence, my seat mate was Betsy. Only wish I had a pedicure since I had to take off my shoes in the dojo. Otherwise I was told that I look great and lost so much weight. That by Betsy. I was also told Logan's getting a haircut. This told by Bill. I asked him not to short and typical Bill - "did I say short?" Ugh! Why can we not have a normal toned or simply even toned conversation. Oh, well! This is who we are.