High Blue

This is what a high blue belt looks like.


Yep. Just like a low blue belt but with a bit of black tape near the end.

Still, it seems somewhat significant as it's the last belt before the brown belt. The brown belt seems like a serious belt to me. Sometimes I can't believe I've gotten this far.

I've begun to learn what I need to know to be a high blue belt:

Form
Our new form is Palgwe 5. I went through the entire form on Saturday with Shawn helping me, but found I didn't remember much last night except the first few moves, and those were tricky. They include a "scissors block" where one hand blocks clockwise from the top and the other blocks clockwise from the bottom as you step back with one foot. Or both counterclockwise if you step back with the other foot. Yikes.

"This one's hard," said Master Hughes. He came over twice to work with me and Brian on the first part. Since I'd worked on it Saturday, I was the one to help Brian this time. Still, I think it'll take a while for both of us to get that one down.

Kick
After class, Justin showed me the new kick, a hooking kick. "It's my favorite kick for sparring," he said. I practiced a few times and it seems like it will be useful for sparring. You kick out sideways and then quickly bend your knee, hooking your foot around to hit your sparring partner's head (usually). I'm not sure how I'll get enough power to break a board with it.

Class wasn't too strenuous, so I looked for an after-class sparring partner. I was feeling the need to move! Justin said he'd stay. That's when he showed me the hooking kick. We sparred a bit and showed each other our favorite sparring combinations, but mostly stood there in our gear, talking. But that was OK, too.