2nd degree black belt testing

So, Micah finished his 2nd degree black belt testing last week! Yes, despite the pandemic and all, Micah and two others managed to finish their training and testing for 2nd degree black belt. They met weekly for training...just the three candidates and the instructors, with masks. When needed, Asher was Micah's partner for sparring and self defense and stick and target drills (so he never had to be within 6 feet of anyone not in his own household). 

Last week, the trio had their official tests each night...

The bottom two pictures were from Monday's combinations test. (The combinations test was one of the toughest for Micah because of his arthritis...so much jumping for his joints, and he'd injured his ankle jump roping the week or so before also.) The top pictures were from Tuesday's targets test.

The pictures on the left were from sparring Tuesday night. (Given the pandemic, Micah only sparred Asher. Last year for the same testing, Asher sparred a room full of black belts and upper black belts for an hour. Micah may need to do another sparring test later??) The rest of the pictures were from Wednesday's self defense, sticks and knife defense tests.

And the final night of tests included forms, weapons forms and specials (forms choreographed by each candidate)...along with the evening's bowing out. 

Whew.

So proud of my Micah for his perseverance! I know that physically the testing took its toll when combined with his arthritis, but he pushed through. I know, too, that this isn't the training and testing experience he was anticipating, but everyone made it work. And I'm thankful. 

We're still working out details of how to do a promotion ceremony (outdoors, early morning, socially distanced, no shared food), but I'll update on that later. For now, just so very thankful that they were able to continue during the pandemic...that Asher was able to be Micah's partner, which made that aspect considerably easier...and that both boys have been happy to call Karate West a second home for a decade now. Seriously. A decade. Look at these pictures from their very first class and from last week...

Wow.