Four members of the Estevan Taekwon-Do Club were rewarded for the efforts and their hard work this past weekend when it came time for black belt testing.
Simone Saigeon was promoted from first to second-degree black belt, while Danielle Stephany, Tiny Longney and Taya Saigeon received their first-degree black belts.
Wayne Brown, who is one of the instructors for the club, said there is a lot that goes into receiving the high honour in martial arts.
“The three ladies that tested for black belt all put in between seven to nine years of training before they were asked to do tests,” said Brown. “They go up in the belt ranks, and gain proficiency in different techniques and patterns.”
At the level of black belt, someone reaches the stage where they have met requirements of new movements. They start putting those moves together, and learning more enhanced moves.
“It really is the beginning of a new journey in taekwon-do, because up to that point, you’ve just been introduced to a lot of different moves,” Brown said.
The testing for the black belts occurred on May 24, and consisted of about 3 1/2 hours of exams that had many different components. There was a written test with an essay in which they had to explain the impact taekwon-do has had on their fitness, confidence and personal lives.
“It can be quite an emotional paper for them to write, and they read it to all that are there and witnessing the testings,” said Brown.
Then they have to do patterns required for a black belt, and perform patterns they learned at the various belt stages.
A fitness component required push-ups, sit-ups and jumping jacks, all of which were timed. They also had to demonstrate kicks and different techniques, show their knowledge of sparring, blocks, strikes and self-defence.
Breaking requirements included hand and foot techniques.
Finally there was a knowledge requirement on a number of questions.
“Over the six to nine years, whatever it takes some people, depending on their training schedule and their commitment, you start to put all of that information together in techniques and training, and at that point in black belt testing you get an opportunity to demonstrate it and show your proficiency in it,” said Brown.
As for the promotion to a second-degree black belt, the minimum requirement is to commit to training, teaching and giving back to others, and the commitment is at least two years before testing.
The wait time goes up incrementally for each degree of black belt, so it will be three years before a second-degree black belt can go for a third-degree test.
“there is always learning to be had, but there is a time commitment in order to test for the degree,” said Brown.
Black belts were handed out after the testing. Additional testing occurred on Saturday for the other colour belt promotions. About 30 students tested for promotions in each ranking.
A windup supper was held that night.
