February Promotion--Over!

Tomorrow the results go up--they typically go up on the following Friday. Last weekend had to be about the most interesting promotion yet. I honestly don't believe it was the best one I've done for sure but I wouldn't label it a total disaster. After the expected quiz from Max on my stances and techniques on the ride to Honbu, I was full to the brim with Japanese terms I prayed Kaicho wouldn't ask me to attempt to pronounce correctly :o I arrived about a half an hour before the promotion, warmed up, and in no time it was time for our group to go up. What struck me is as odd (and make me a bit uneasy) was the small group of advanced yellow belts. I thought more of my peers would go for this promotion too but this is the point where many students put the brakes on. Before at blue belt it seemed like if you weren't going for promotion, you were the only one (I myself took an extra month at blue belt)and the farther along you go, where things get more technical and the learning curve flattens out, the more erratic each person's promotions become I guess. However, it did seem like every blue belt in NYC period decided to take February promotion but it was 5 of us.

The written test was fair. I expected it to be a bit harder. I'm definitely seeing a progression toward a specific format as you test for a more advanced belt level. Can't say it's harder but I think it's suited to my personality because I like to write :) I'll embrace the idea of more essays as long as Kaicho doesn't have us write them in Japanese. Still, the hardest written exam for me personally was from advanced blue to yellow back in June.

You know I honestly tried to ignore my mounting nerves as we started the physical test. We started with the dreaded "who has an injury?" conversation. I debated whether to let Kaicho know about my knee as I wasn't sure whether it would seriously impede a successful promotion. My left knee has the tendency to pop out of the socket and it can be a painful experience kicking at times but other than that I am pretty healthy. After this initial conversation, the physical test began. Overall, it was a fair one. I had trouble with the one handed push-ups (as in I couldn't do one correctly) but other than that, the material we were tested on was very familiar and some challenging combinations were thrown in.

My nerves hit a roadblock during the Sanchin kata testing and I got very upset but now that I look back at it, it wasn't so bad. I missed a step or two but was able to regain my footing as I practiced this kata a fair amount of times. It was over in no time--or at least it seemed that way because my ridiculous nerves shut down my ability to feel time at a normal pace. I mean it felt like 20 minutes! After it was over I was pretty upset but when I came down from the anxiety, it hardly seemed like a terrible promotion. In fact, it was pretty decent.