Julia and Genevieve have been taking tae kwon do lessons through our community education program for a while now. They’ve enjoyed it, and they have worked increasingly hard at honing their skills as white belts. We’ve enjoyed seeing their progress on the physical side of tae kwon do, and we’ve been impressed too by its psychological or social side, emphasizing discipline and respect.
Saturday, we headed up to the Cities for their first test, to see if they were ready to move up to the yellow belt level. The test was quite intimidating: crowded with other kids (and adults!), run by a big and tough-seeming "master," and of course designed so that everyone had to display their skills in front of everyone else.
I was more than a little worried, but the girls did very well – not just trying their hardest (which was our only real criterion for success), but listening well, staying patient, and generally being good students.
At tonight’s lesson, they found out that everything had gone just as planned, and that they had been promoted to yellow belt! They were elated, Shannon and I were really proud, and they looked awesome with their new belts.