The Illustrious Purple Belt

I personally don't consider the purple belt to be illustrious but Emma who actually wears these belts "totally does"! (Her words not mine) When Emma first started these classes she saw her friend Morgan Williams wearing a purple belt and she thought that was sooo cool! I remember Emma telling me that she didn't think she would ever get it. Now that she has earned it she is saying the same thing about becoming a black belt. That's a long way off! It's exciting to see her advance and for me it's exciting to see her progress to each new level. When we started at this location I was worried. I worried that she only knew her instructor and that she would not do as well. For the first several weeks we noticed a decline in her willingness to be aggressive during the sparring. This had not been a problem before. Sabumnim (her instructor) said that part of this problem, he thought, was the lack of siblings to ruff around with. After fretting about it for awhile I had the thought that maybe I needed to dawn the gear and push her around at home a little bit during her home practice times. It totally helped and it helped our relationship quite a bit. I find she talks to me much more about things after I've taken a good beating from her!!! Obviously this first picture is right after she got her belt. The other pictures are from right before the belt ceremony when the other kids that didn't pass get a chance to retest. Funny though because everyone has to do the retest! Emma in her new belt and Star Wars T-Shirt. She grew out of the top part of her Gi but her pants still fit so until she grows out of that she's not getting a new uniform! Sorry kid!

I loved this look on her face. That's the only reason this made it to the blog!

Sabumnim watching Emma work on her Palgwe forms. The week before when the kids were testing he called out to Emma that he liked how loud her Kiai was! He's such a great guy! We like him tons!

Emma holding the pad for the others to practice their round house kick.

This last is the video of her receiving her purple belt! I think it's pretty fun to watch. I have posted this before with her other belts but I thought it would be fun to post again!