Black Belt (loads of pictures)

Saturday was Joey's big day! He has spent the last 3 years practicing and sweating and learning many new moves.  He has done a whole lot of push ups, kicks, punches, and countless other moves.  He has had some discouraging times and he has had some very exciting times.  Overall, Joey being in Teakwondo has been a great blessing.  He has grown stronger both physically and mentally and he has found something he can succeed at on a personal level.  

We are so proud of Joey! 

The first pictures are of his form.  We had a few hiccups with the cameras and so there was not any video but he did a great job!

 Next we had sparring: he is the one doing the jump kick. Nice!

 Now for the board break.  Joey practiced a great deal but was still unable to break the board with an elbow strike.  He had done it once in class which allowed him to test and once at home but had not done it for over a week before testing.  We were a bit anxious to say the least.  His kick was great! Just before leaving for testing I asked him to try the hammer fist move from last testing cycle and he did it without any trouble- broke right through the board on his first try!

 We arrived at testing and I asked his teacher if he could do a the hammer fist instead of the elbow and was told no, that Master Pechacek (the school owner) would not allow it. I felt defeated and heart broken for Joey.  I know I should have had more faith but it was not looking promising.  

Peter decided that he needed to be his child's champion and went to Master Pechacek with our question.  He told Peter to be prepared to fail.  Peter asked what it meant for Joey to be in the special abilities category if it would not allow for some compromise in the testing.  He said it needed to be prearranged which we did not know.  When Joey had all of his testing done a year ago, it was found that he has diminished upper body strength and coordination.  (Taekwondo has helped immensely but he still struggles.)  

We just decided to cheer Joey on and hope for the best.  Well, after the forms and sparring the judges deliberated for a time and then they went to speak to a few parents and students.  Mr. Coleman Joey's teacher came to speak to us and told us that they wanted Joey to try the elbow first.  But, the visiting judge Chief Master Westbrook (8th degree black belt, the 2nd highest rank in Taekwondo) said he would consider letting Joey do the hammer fist. Check out the pictures and the videos below to see what happened.

This is the link to other video that I could not get loaded through blogger, here.

Oh, I am not sure how this cutie snuck in but she sure is fun to look at!

These final pictures are of him getting his actual belt.  It is really neat.  It has his name embroidered on it as well as his degree (1st) and American Taekwondo Association in Korean. 

Proud and grateful for parents.  Joey is a wonderful son.  I am thankful for the blessing Peter gave Joey the night before that I am confident calmed him and gave him the courage he needed.  I know there will be times that Joey will not always succeed but I am thankful that we, his parents could be his champions and help him with this amazing achievement!
Oh and we celebrated with lunch at Fuddruckers! Delicious! Joey polished off a half pound buffalo burger all by himself!