Belt Testing - Orange

The belt testing was utter chaos. There were about 25 kids from white belt to black all testing at the same time. The entire testing took over two hours to complete, which meant Troy and the other two white belts were expected to sit still for an hour and fifty minutes of that. It didn’t happen. They were playing, fidgeting, and talking. Having them sit still that long was like trying to stop the tide from coming into shore…an impossible task.

When they finally got up to do their forms, Troy completely forgot to yell on his sidekicks. He got so flustered by that that he froze in the middle of his form. Thankfully, he wasn’t the only one, so they let them all do it again. The second time, Troy absolutely nailed his form!

Then, they paired them up to do their one steps. And despite me telling him multiple times, Troy once again forgot to yell on every move. Once again, the judges saved him and let them all do it again. He once again was virtually flawless. And then, the interminable waiting began.

We were dazzled by a combat demonstration. We winced as black belt candidates were pummeled during three on one. We oohed and aahed as those same black belt candidates broke boards with their hands and feet. And through it all, the white belts fidgeted and played.

And when it was all over, we had no idea if Troy passed or not. We took some pictures, and then we were dismissed. We were told to come back tomorrow for the belt presentation ceremony. So, I guess we’ll find out then.