Testing Reflections, 2/12/2026

[bushido_man96]

Testing went from 6:00 – 7:15 pm.

Low orange belts (forms):  We had two testing, one young kid and one a teenager.  Their technique is coming along nicely and they had pretty good power.  Some minor things need cleaned up, but at this point, they are progressing well.  I noted on stances that they need to make sure the back stance is an L with the front foot pointed forward, and not too stretched out.  I see too many back stances that are as long as some front stances, and that makes it difficult to pick the front leg up without shifting bodyweight, thus telegraphing.  On the front stance, I keyed on shoulder width.  I see a tendency to step out too wide when stepping forward, instead of stepping more forward and keeping the stance width about shoulder width.  It draws power away from a stepping forward strike or block but cutting off the finish.

High orange belt (form):  Just one here, another young teenager.  He’s already a really tall kid, and athletic.  He’s one of 5 from this family in class.  His technique was good and he had great power.  He got in a bit of a hurry moving through the form and didn’t finish a few stances.  He’s at that point where he needs to try to be fast, but not be in a hurry.

Low green belt (form):  One young student here.  Stances, stance, stances.  This kid took off like a rocket when he started, but he has regressed, and gotten lazy with his stances.  Stances aren’t just part of the technique, they are there own techniques as well.  When he was stepping to the 45 degree angles in the form, his second one was too flat, but that’s a pretty easy fix and more of a concentration thing.  Master North had our adult 2nd dan come out on the floor and had the low green belt “teach” the form to him.  He did a pretty good job, really.  Not bad on some of the techniques, but not so good on the stances.  I see this happen quite a bit, too:  students get so worried about keeping the hands coordinated that they forget what the feet are doing.  This student will definitely have to zero in on the stances before he tests again.  I plan to speak with the other instructors about this as well.

Low orange belt (one-steps):  Something I tend to see at this young phase as well; they were just kind of going through the motions.  They want to get the memorized so they can test, and aren’t at the point where they are putting more behind the techniques.  I told them they need “emotional content” in their techniques (and none of these kids know that reference anymore…).  One of the one-steps has a takedown in it, and the students tend to step and stop, making sure they are setup right, instead of stepping through more fluidly to finish the takedown.

High orange belt (one-steps):  Again, this kid had good power and flow.  A few of the kicks he was using his instep as the striking implement, though.  For one-steps, we emphasize proper striking tool, like ball of the foot for front and round kicks, heel for side kicks.

Low green belt (one-steps):  He did these better than he did his form.  Good height on kicks, good power.  He still needed some more energy, though.

Testing Sparring:  There were no kihaps!  I made sure to point this out.  I talked a bit about the importance of a well placed kihap, but not to necessarily kihap on every technique.

The low green belt had some good angles.  High orange belt needed some more combinations put together.

After all the physical stuff was done, we had out closing thoughts and belt presentation.  The school owner made some interesting points:

“Information + Information = Information.”  “Information + Application = Transformation.”

The other school owner also had a good one:

“How do you eat an elephant?  One piece at a time.”  I really liked this one, taking one thing to work on and fix at a time, and then moving to the next one.

I spoke a bit on the importance of working on little things in basics, because if they are cleaned up there, they will transfer to the forms and other material.  Overall, another good, albeit small, testing.

[sensei8]

10 hours ago, bushido_man96 said:

Information + Information = Information.”  “Information + Application = Transformation.”

Excellent!! It’s what we call…

”Study your opponent, study yourself, make a plan, and carry it out.”

looks like you guys had a great Testing Cycle. Congrats to everyone!!