Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01080

Andy has earned his Advanced Red Belt today. This means that he will be testing for his black belt next. I am not sure if he understands the gravity behind this. The good thing for me not earning mine on the first try is that I can do what I can to help Andy earn his in his own time. It may be in 6 months, it may be longer than that. He’ll get there but a lot of hard work has to happen first. Lots of additional training and practice to get to the level needed to earn that black belt.

Andy is with his instructor, Mr. Kyle. When Andy began, Mr. Kyle was an assistant and now he runs the classes for the advanced Karate Kids. We’ve been with ABD long enough to see Kyle make a lot of progress from an assistant to a full instructor. He’s very good with the kids. He’s patient with Andy, too. Andy has poses that he does with each of the instructors and assistant instructors. Mr. Zack is one of the assistants.

He goes with a Piggy Back with Mr. Zack.

Andy has a postcard that he got from Mr. Zack a couple of belts ago. He keeps it tucked into his belt display rack.

Andy always has Mr. Brochu pick him up by his feet and dangle him. He’s getting a lot bigger than when Mr. Brochu started doing this with Andy.

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01026

Tonight was Parent’s Night Out at America’s Best Defense. We try and get Andy to these as often as they come up. Tonight’s theme was a zombie one and when I came to pick up Andy he was playing Red Light – Green Light to the tune of “Thriller” and all the kids were moving as if they were zombies.

While Andy was at Parent’s Night Out I was at my first Boot Camp for Black Belt Testing. This will go on for the next couple of months. I was quite anxious to attend because I did not know what to expect. The first session was good. Unfortunately the guy that I had partnered with last week at the assessment ended up no longer part of the program. When I came in he was retesting his physical requirements and when all the other people who retested came back, he did not. He’s a good partner. I occasionally work with him on Saturday morning classes.

So, I got a different partner. She is really working hard and helping me out.

Boot Camp was tough. We worked so many of the defenses and strike set 3. It was tiring but not overwhelming. I’m sure it will become more difficult as time goes on. But, in order to achive this goal I’ve got to put in the work.