I’m a gold belt now. I’m still in the Beginner class, but we’ll be moving on to Phase 2 of the material, so there should be lots of fun new stuff to learn. If the material we saw the higher ranking people cover during their test was any indication, we’ll be covering breathing techniques, crescent kicks, axe kicks, and a bunch of chin na techniques, and I’m sure there will be quite a bit of stuff that isn’t on the formal test.

The belt ceremony wasn’t anything unusual. Certificates for the new rank, a new belt, people clap, etc. This time, though, I got recognized for a couple of other things: Black Belt Club and tournament competition. That felt pretty good. I got a couple of patches to put on my uniform, and soon I should be getting a cool red-trimmed new uniform jacket to put them on.

Sifu mentioned that he’s got some new stretching and exercise routines worked up, so there will be some new variety in what we do at the beginning of each class. Also, we’re going to start off class with Yun Tung to get warmed up before we stretch. Sounds fun. He also said that there’s a new school opening in Lucedale, MS, and that hopefully soon we’ll be able to have an inter-school tournament. I’m really looking forward to that. Going to the SMAC tournament was fun, but it felt really impersonal. I felt kinda like an outsider surrounded by all those TKD and Karate schools. It should be interesting to meet up with more folks from our style.