Test practice?

I've noticed that sometimes right before a test, we have a class that's run just about like a test. Tonight's that night.

There's a big crowd, despite the heat. There are some black belts I rarely see, and somekids I don't know, too. Patrick is there, and I chat with him for a while. He asks about Robbie and Eli.

"I don't know if they'll be back. Eli might be," I tell Patrick.

Patrick reminds me that he's up for his black belt test in February. "Cool," I say.

We warm up with the usual punches and a few kicks, but then go to Chun Jee before stretching. It's one form I always remember besides the one I'm working on! We do our ITF forms for Master Hughes, and our Palgwe forms, too. He's watching closely, and gives me, among others some pointers.

After everyone's done, Alec and his dad Bill do their forms again--they won't be there on the test day. They are the same level, and it's cool to watch them do the forms together. Alec is tiny and wiry; his forms are precise and quick. Bill is strong and muscular--he looks powerful doing his.

We end with combination kicking. Master Hughes has us practice making contact. I don't like doing this when we're not sparring--I don't know why. But I eventually see why he has us do this: to practice knowing how close you need to be. I'm often too far away when I kick; Ms. Pryor has pointed this out to me before.

"Kick him! Make contact!" says Master Hughes as I practice with Brian. OK, OK. I try out my kick-to-the-head with him--and I might have scored!

"Not bad!" he tells me. Yeah, especially with a 6-foot opponent!

So now I've learned this: I need to move in closer to make contact. Remember this!!! (I tell Pam that I wish I could remember all the things I learn in drills when I actually spar!)

After class, some of us discuss the Thursday forms class (might go to that before the test), a possible baseball game outing, and various other topics. Master Hughes has given me the URLs of a couple websites he's worked on--he's beginning to get one started for our dojang! Very exciting. I may do some writing for it.