How Does He Do That

Sam tested for his red belt Monday night and received it Tuesday night. He was very excited and happy about it. I know he doesn't look like it in the picture, but he really was.

It is at taekwondo that Sam shows off his amazing memory. During his testing, he is required to show mastery of the high blue belt hand technique, kicking technique, form, and one-step sparring. They also look at no contact sparring and knowledge of Korean terms used in the dojang. They also often require that you remember your hand and kicking techniques and forms from all former belts (white, yellow, orange, green, purple, blue, high blue). During the testing, the master verified Sam's age (age 7) and told him that he was only required to demonstrate knowledge of the five one-step sparring forms for his current belt only. He then asked if Sam remembered the others. Sam replied that he did and went on to demonstrate all 30 one-step sparring forms, in order, without hesitation. Now, that's an amazing memory!

Not only did he remember everything during testing, but since Tuesday evening he has learned his red belt hand technique, kicking technique, and five one-step sparring forms. He's learned all of that in just two evenings. And I'm not talking about learning it but still needing to practice it until he can remember it all; he learned and knows it all. The only thing left to learn is the form. Then he'll have to "sharpen it up" for the next 6 or 8 weeks before he will be eligible to test for high red. This is typical for Sam: to learn everything necessary for the belt within the first week.

I wish I had his memory!