Today was The Mayor's Tiny Tiger orange belt testing. He has been diligent about going to class and practicing at home so he was ready for this test. The testing was pretty intimidating. All of the black belt instructors from the DoJo were sitting at a long table and each student had their own sheet of paper the instructors wrote on tracking their scores and performance during the test. This round of testing was for all white belts (Tiny Tigers and the Kids/Adults). Tiny Tigers are 4-6 year olds then you graduate into the Big Kid program (where he will eventually go back to the white belt but then test for a full orange belt, etc).
Anyway, all the white belts warmed up with their exercises, worked on kicks, jumping jacks, punch jumps, splits, squats...a lot! Then the Tiny Tigers had to perform their Basics (which is a series of high blocks, punches and front kicks) then sit while the Big Kids did their basics. Then the Tiny Tigers had to show their Stranger Danger moves, then had to sit while the Big Kids did their Stranger Danger moves...then it was on to Songahm 1 (this is a series of blocks, kicks, punches with movement they are required to know to earn their belt). He did amazing on his Songahm 1! He performed his perfectly and waited patiently for the others to finish (he finished first). He received high scores for his form and memory on his skills but still needs to work on his focus and sitting still. Not new news for us...we were expecting to hear all of that...especially since focus and sitting still is the main reason we signed him up for karate in the first place.
The actual belt ceremony was great. The Big Kids from today (and all of the other kids and adults testing this week) receive their belts on Saturday at a Belt Ceremony, but they know how impatient the younger ones can be so Tiny Tigers receive their new belts immediately after their test. The Mayor won the attendance award too! You only had to have 11 classes and he had 15! He received a stripe for his new orange belt...he was very excited!
D and I were on the mat with him for the belt ceremony and had the honor of taking off his white belt and putting his new orange belt on him. We couldn't be happier of our boy!
sitting like a black belt in front of the panel
working on his splits
warming up with some front kicks
Stranger Danger portion of the test
his punches
part of Songahm 1
waiting patiently, while still in form, for the rest of the Tiny Tigers to finish
all done! He earned his belt!
Our orange belt with his daddy
my favorite orange belt and me
Our proud orange belt
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