Please say hello to Kyosahnim Woodruff.

Tyler got up in the greatest of moods Saturday morning, ate some oatmeal with some fruit, got dressed warmly (-13 celcius), packed up all the stuff we needed for the day, and off to the school we went.

 At 8 a.m. Tyler along with Grayson, and Ella commenced their black belt test.  First on the list 10k in one hour.  Tyler finished his in 1 hour 2 min.  I was not able to attend the following endurance tests, due to I had volunteered to ensure the dragons had their registration papers for their testing.

In between all of my “chores” Tyler eventually came up to the dojang with arms as red/blue as frost bite.  He told me he did his sprints, and lots of pull ups on the monkey bars.  No wonder his hands/arms were frozen!

Inside the warm class, he was to finish the remaining “endurance” tests. I watched him do 3 sets of push ups…. And then 3 sets of sit ups… during the last rep, he then started “freakin” out a bit as he said repeatedly that he could no longer feel his hands/arms.  He was not continuing with the others (3 other tests to do) he could not feel his arms.  

With much support from the other black belts, and giving him time to work the muscles…. He put his dobok on, and joined everyone to commence the patterns section of the test.  I was fortunate to do this along side with him, as I’m going for my blue belt.  

We then did the kicks up to blue belt, step sparring and then some theory.  Once that was done, it was the blue belts turn to break 2 boards.  One with hand, one with foot.  Tyler was asked to hold my board.  I successfully completed the palm break, and then the spinning hook kick.  My test was over.  Tyler’s was 3/4 ways there.

I changed my clothing, ensured there were lots of snacks, and drinks for EVERYONE, and watched my son complete his patterns parts, step sparring, and kicks.

The then sparred one on one for about 15 minutes straight, and then 2 on one for another 15 minutes.  Once done with that…. Self defense with Shane (going for 2^nd degree).  Then Ty had to get away from 3 people who had him pinned down to the ground.  The last man was Jason.  Ty pulled his beard… nope… Ty pulled his hair… nope… Ty then grabbed his eye sockets with his fingers, and Jason said…. “that’s it for me”.

Now board breaking.  Tyler excels in many things, but boards… are his specialty.  4 board lead leg side kick.  The only one to do that with that many boards.  Next, Punch through 3 boards!  Next 2 board break with knife hand.  Next  jumping snap kick.  The guy could not get any higher in his execution!  BANG! Broken.

Punching through 

knife hand strike 3 boards

lead leg side kick 4 boards

Jumping snap kick

Easy Peasy for him

back kick and front punch

The boy amazed me, along with comments from other moms. My dream would be for him to continue…. But it will be only up to him to do so…. I have pushed as far as I could push…. He completed and accomplished a great feat!  6 years of training.  The boy is now a black belt.!