Karate: Moving on Up - Junior Class

Terri is excited to be able to move up to the Junior class and continue on her black belt journey.  She turns 7 in less than a month, so Sensei thought it would be best to move her up before summer ended.  She did really well the first 2 classes and I can tell she will learn very quickly in this new environment.

Before we left for class, we needed to capture a picture to text to Juan as a quick "thank you" for the present.  She loved it. Jumping up and down, squeezing out its stuffings, loved it.  Note: This picture is also significant because at her first junior class, she learned how to tie her belt (all by herself) and successfully completed it this week as well.

Here they are "jumping the gap."  She had difficulty with this task, but kept trying.  (Even trying not to cry because she couldn't jump that far without falling down.)

At the end of class, she wanted to climb the rocks.  A happy girl!

Mama note: It was HOTTTTT! in the Dojo this night. 65-70 outside, but 90 inside (with no A/C).  I tried to wait in the car, but Terri said to me, "I'm not settled unless you're there watching me."  How could I not stay and watch her after that heartfelt comment?

Karate - Yellow Stripe

Tuesday, July 3rd: Before class, Terri took her test for the yellow stripe belt.
She had to perform snap kicks.

And punches.

And head blocks.

Hold the push up position and perform 5 push ups.

Hang from a bar for 30 seconds and perform 1 pull up.

She passed!
Then normal class started.  Here are part of the warm ups.

At the end, they played dodgeball to work on agility and concentration.  It was the 7 younger kids against the 4 older kids.  The younger kids won each time.

Tuesday, July 10th: At the end of class she did a demo and received her yellow stripe belt.  During class, they worked on teamwork.  Here she's working on punches while her partner works on head blocks.

The next teamwork activity involved being blindfolded.  Their partner had to guide them to a certain spot to do snap kicks.  It was pretty funny watching some of the kids walk their partners right into walls or the center poles.

And in the end, she did receive her new belt.  We are very proud of her.

Karate - Social Butterfly

Tonight, there was a new little girl trying out karate. My social little butterfly went right up to her and said hello and introduced herself. She immediately had to show her "the ropes."  I watched her introduce her to the other classmates, show her how to practice on the pads until class started, and even helped her during warm-ups.  After warm-ups, they did running drills. Zoom, Zoom! Around and Around they run!

Next, they did a balance drill where they had to hop down the mat with a hoop over their foot. The 2nd turn, she made it the whole way. I think her monkey toes held it on a couple off times. She was very proud of herself.

(I did a video of this - but haven't figured out how to upload those to the blog)

Lastly, they did a focus drill where they had to hit a pad before it drops to the ground. She hit 2 of 3 and almost got the third. She took concentrating very serious! Her 2nd turn she punched a bag pretty far (after being challenged by the Sensei to punch the bag as hard as they can) and almost beat the previous "record."

Karate - Sparring Again

Her biggest issue this time - I didn't tie her belt tight enough and her uniform kept falling. The sparring went a lot better this time. Her foot movement and blocking were good. She only tried to kick a few times, missing each time, but at least she unglued her feet from the floor.

The girl in the red shirt - it was her first time at Karate.  

 Here she's trying to block a kick....but mostly running away.

Here she's on the sidelines after sparring, cheering on her other classmates.

Karate and Crying

Successfully raising right hand!

Blocking drill

My notes from June 5th:

They did drills and practiced various techniques.  Then they practiced rolls (somersaults).  She was scared because she didn't know what she was supposed to do (and cried a little).  The Sensei helped calm her down and showed her what to do on the mat.  I had to give her a high five because she did it even though she wasn't sure or confident about it!