Yesterday I took my 2nd degree black-belt test and I passed! It started of really well, but in the first kata (Ebo-no-kata) I timed the throw for mae-geri wrong. That always makes me think at moments that I should not think anymore. So as a result I ‘forgot’ to breathe, which caused me to be more exhausted in the end than expected.

The comments the jury gave were that they considered the Ebo-no-kata a bit to static, so this is something to work on and work with. The funny thing is that the Ebo-no-kata is something I really like to do and spend quite some time perfecting. So in getting the details right I forgot to practice how to exercise it as dynamic as possible. Oh well, it would be boring if there was nothing left to learn :).

Also my congratulations to Eric who passed for his black-belt test. He really trained hard and his exam was good to watch. He also learned me a new throw, but I don’t think I can repeat it. I even think that this throw (more a toss really) as a sport is illegal here in the Netherlands :).

Of course I owe a lot to my partners, who took the time, patience and pain to train with me for the last couple of months. So: Thanks Willem and Diana!

As soon as I have pictures I will put them on this site.