Child Harbat is now officially a Tang Soo Do white belt. What’s Tang Soo Do? Click here for a whole lot of information and back story about it but here’s one teaser: the founder of Tang Soo Do walked from Korea to Manchuria in 1936 and scaled the Great Wall to sneak into China. So…kind of a badass. What’s it all about? Confidence, control, calm, responsibility, respect, readership. Darn, I was on a roll to have all those words start with C or R. I meant Leadership. And there’s also punching and kicking and yelling loudly to scare off attackers. Last night I sat in on her class and in 1 1/2 hours they did:
- jumping jacks, push ups, crunches, twisting crunches, tricep pushes
- forward and backward rolls
- balance beam work
- dummy strikes
- punch blocking
- sparring with pads including dodging, punching, and kicking
- a complicated takedown where, in a single fluid movement, you can disable/break someone’s arm and throw them on the ground
- practice of the forms with students teaching other students
- speed/agility competition similar to tag or flag football
All this by children under 13, and there was a wide variety of skills and sizes. You haven’t really been impressed until you see a thin spectacled 11-year old girl throw down a 200-lb teacher. During one game, the tag chase, CH was caught and cried. The teacher tried to console her but she cried in the corner for about 3 minutes then wiped her tears and rejoined the group. This is so good for her and it’s in a safe environment, even with the punches and kicks and hi-YAHs. As expected, CH is very excited about having a special outfit for class, complete with badges we need to sew on. By we I mean someone more experienced with a sewing machine, unless CH doesn’t mind going to class with flaps of bloody skin sewn into her jacket. Actually, that might be kind of cool in a bounty hunter/Mad Max sort of way.
My wife is taking the class too and I’ve been audience to a few demonstrations at home. So far I haven’t been kicked in the crotch yet or had my glasses broken but stay tuned. Now stand back, a Tang Soo Do warrior is about to get real up in this piece!
Writer, architect, father, husband.