Saturday 4th March 2017 saw the first Chuldow Martial Arts Taekwon-Do Black Belt Graduation. As the first of it’s kind it was conducted by Mr East’s Taekwon-Do Instructor and honoured guest Grandmaster P Liversidge 9th Degree with the assistance of Mr Robert Caschetto 4th Degree. This was also due to Mr East being himself assessed for promotion to 4th Degree Black Belt, a milestone in Taekwon-Do training.
The day started with each candidate being assessed on patterns and basic technique and Mr East on a selection of advanced patterns. A question and answer session followed testing the candidates on their knowledge of Taekwon-Do and Korean History along with theory and terminology. The candidates then padded up for sparring with each demonstrating one on one and two on one sparring and the addition of technical sparring for Mr East. This was followed by traditional one step sparring and self-defence with Mr East also demonstrating defence against an armed attacker (knife).
The breaking followed with Mrs East and Miss Elliott performing breaks using a flying side kick over an obstacle, a kick of their own choosing (Mrs East chose a jumping back kick whilst Miss Elliott demonstrated the reverse turning kick) and both completing a knife hand break to two boards. Mr East’s breaking consisted of a three board break with the back-fist and a four board break using a kick of his own choosing for which a turning kick was chosen.
After the debris had been cleaned up and the floor swept (debris donated to those of our students with wood burning heaters at home) the candidates were left to sweat whilst GM Liversidge assessed the results. After what seemed an age but was probably not that long at all the candidates were called onto the mats and feedback was given. In brief it is safe to say that the Grandmaster was very happy with the standard displayed and in short order Mrs East was promoted to 1st Degree Black Belt, Miss Elliott to 1st Degree Black Belt and Mr East, after a short 28 years of training, to 4th Degree Black Belt with the right to the status of Taekwon-Do Expert.
Needless to say that the day was a mix of nerves and excitement followed by emotion and elation.
