Taekwondo Camp and My Level 3 Certification

This weekend I went up to Winter Park, CO for our annual Taekwondo camp, and to try to earn my level 3 certification and my black collar. It's a pretty big deal, and takes a lot of work. The drive up there was rough, though I went with some of my students, Sarah, Susan, and Susan's daughter Natalie. I'm really glad I wasn't driving because around about Leadville we got into a lovely snowstorm...in May. We left Thursday night after I got off work, and thankfully I got permission to leave early. Next morning we finished our trip, still in the snow, and arrived in time for check-in. Senior Master Thor was the one presiding over the camp, as he's the highest ranking black belt in the region. He also was the one in charge of the level 3 certification class. I was working hard all day Friday. Those who weren't certifying didn't have to be there until that evening. After meeting my roommates, one of whom was in my certification class, another of whom is an old friend, which was a pleasant surprise, we headed off to dinner and then to our first workout as a whole group. I was in squad 4, which meant we were wearing the purple headbands, and our squad leader was one of the instructors there to recertify, Matt Guy, who's absolutely hilarious. I had a good time learning from him, Mr. Kemmerling, Mr. Shields, Ms. McCray, Ms. Fatori, and Mrs. Turner. We worked during the day on our practice lessons that we'd have to demonstrate on Saturday night. First though, we had to get through Friday night. Our theme this year was fitness. Man, did that workout hurt. By the end I was on the point of total exhaustion, and we actually had a kid pass out from getting overheated. But it was still great to see a group that big of so many different ages and ranks all working together towards a common purpose. Next morning was workout at 6:30 am...what a way to start the day, but thankfully those workouts weren't really as hard as the night before. Next came what I was really looking forward to: learning the sword. We call it the Gumdo in Korean, and the class was taught by Mrs. Lorenz, who was strict, but a good teacher. Mr. Guy, Mr. Shannon, Miss Cousins, and Anne were all in the class with me, and I had a good time with all the kids I was working with. (By the way, if you're wondering, black belts all get called by their last names, regardless of age, and Miss Cousins is actually Anne's daughter, but Anne is only a purple belt.) Anyway, after the sword came kicks for the black belts, then lunch. After that was a self-defense lesson where I learned pressure points I hadn't seen before from Mr. Bass and heard some of Master Thor's (somewhat familiar, since he's my regular instructor) lectures on practical self defense. One more practice lesson towards certification, and then supper and nerves before our certification lessons, which were done before everyone. I was nervous, and Masther Thor said he saw that I was, but I did very well. He told me and the others who certified to meet in a seminar room at midnight for the official ceremony. Then I got to watch Mrs. Bradley and Mr. Shannon and a couple of other black belts test. Sarah Bradley did very well, and I'm certain she passed. I was actually not impressed with the other two black belts besides Mr. Shannon. Their kicks were a bit sloppy and the sparring was tournament style, not testing, not to mention they missed their board breaks. So did Mr. Shannon, but as he was only midterming, it's not a really big deal. He did great. Interspersed with all of this was the team competitions. We could do exercises for more points, like push ups, sit ups, and jumping rope. Mr. Overby was on our team, and he did a thousand push ups and sit ups. He looked like he wanted to cry by the end, but he was awesome. I had so much trouble staying awake until midnight, I was so wiped, but the ceremony was cool. The instructors all sat across a big lit candle from us and talked about what it meant to be an instructor and how we should look on it as a new dawn. Then we all did Songham 1, the white belt form together, sort of symbolic of that new beginning. I didn't sleep well, so I was pretty much running on auto pilot the next morning. 6:30 workout again, and then checking out and breakfast before the final team competition and award ceremony. Our team definitely didn't win, we came in second to last, but we had fun and that's what matters. We had fun working on the puzzles and figuring out how to make things work. In between times, the higher ranking black belts, myself included, got talked to ab out setting the example and really stepping up our leadership. I was proud to do it, and I definitely learned a lot this weekend that I wanted to implement in classes. We talked a lot about leadership and how we could make it play a bigger part in our regular lessons and try to make the other students see the value in it. Camp was rough, but I definitely want to go next year if I can. I'm sore and still tired, but I learned a lot and am proud of myself for earning my instructor certification. As soon as I get the official results I'll get my black collar on my uniform, and I promise I'll post a picture.