New Yellow Belt

Yesterday Michayla had her first belt testing as a part of the "teens" group.  This test was far more intense than the simple ceremony they did for the younger group that Michayla, Sean, and Shea had been a part of.

This was two and a half hours of continuous workout and demonstration of skills while instructors paced up and down taking notes on clipboards.  If it wasn't her turn to perform, she was doing push-ups or holding a horse stance while waiting in line.  If she wasn't punching or kicking a pad with all she had, she was absorbing the punches and kicks of another (larger) student.  She did very well.  The only place I saw her falter was in her form.  She knows it by heart but gets nervous when she's in the spotlight.  She did it perfectly on the third try.

When it was time to award the new belts, the teachers caught me off guard when they called Michayla's name first.  My camera wasn't quite ready.  Since this was her first time, they had to guide her through the ceremony a bit.

After I got a snapshot of her with her teacher at the end, he said he told the other teachers that Michayla's test was the best of all the other students in her class!  She gave it her all and didn't have to be reminded what to do as much as everyone else.  He said that he pointed her out to the manager and told her to "watch that one."

More than once he has approached me during class just to exclaim again as though he can't believe it, "She's strong!"  I guess it comes from all that rough-housing with her brothers and playing tackle football with the next-door neighbor. Or maybe those are just additional signs of individualism in the tough little girl I'm lucky enough to call my daughter.

Michayla loves this stuff.