Preparing for Junior Black Belt: My Family's Story

from the December, 2014 issue of Kiai!

By Tabitha Balakumar
Brown Belt and TW parent

When one hears “black belt test,” one usually conjures up images of practicing curriculum for hours on end and quizzing Japanese terms. That’s definitely part of it, but, this year, I learned how much more is involved.

This past fall, I watched my two kids, Ethan and Owen, prepare to take their Junior Black Belt test, which they completed on November 1st. It was interesting, especially since they were in very different places: Ethan was eleven years old, had already learned how to write an essay, and was closer in age to the rest of the kids in their testing group. Owen was nine years old, had never written an essay before, and has been the youngest kid at his rank for the past two years. Finding his place among his fellow karateka has sometimes been a challenge, but he has never been deterred. Preparing for his black best test was no different.

Tabitha's sons Ethan and Owen pose with Jun Shihan Sarah and Sei Shihan Nancy after their November 1 Junior Black Belt test.

They quizzed each other in Japanese terms while in the car, ran through stances, strikes, blocks, and kicks in the living room, and occasionally did kata in the basement. But there were other factors to consider, like eating well and getting plenty of rest, plus attempting to build up enough physical stamina to make it through the four-hour test. Ethan devised his own training schedule, and Owen was careful to eat well and get plenty of rest. He reminded me often that he would need to go to bed early the night before the test.

Since I train at Thousand Waves and am familiar with their curriculum, I made myself available should they need help with anything. But they didn’t need me. I ended up sitting back, watching them take charge of their own training. In preparing for the test, they were also inadvertently preparing for their responsibilities as a black belt.

In their training as Junior Black Belts this past month, they’ve continued to grow and embrace the changes their rank affords them. They have already begun to learn material that I don’t know, which means I can’t help them, which means they will strike out further on their own. It’s one of those bittersweet moments as a parent: I am so proud to see them rising to such a challenge, but also a little sad because they are moving on to a whole new part of their lives.

Guess I better keep training…

See photos of all the new Junior Black Belts, and read Pearls from their promotion essays.

Click here to see the official portrait of all the new Junior Black Belts.