Today I had my black tip grading for hapkido, the belt before I get my first dan black belt.

I was unfortunately a bit disappointed with how I did. I remembered everything I needed to do without a problem but I felt like I didn't get much of an opportunity to show the various techniques. Also, when it came to the board breaking I needed 3 attempts before I correctly broke each of the boards. This mainly annoys me because I know I am capable of breaking them first go without breaking a sweat (I have broken all other boards on my first attempt). I think I was not focussed enough and was feeling a bit sapped from the 38 degree heat inside the dojang.

I guess I need to take it as a learning experience and make sure I do better next time. I'm sure I will still pass the grading so it's time to move forward. Kelly, my partner, was unable to grad due to a broken arm (that's another story - she will be grading once the cast comes off) so she captured most of the grading on video. I'll be uploading some small snippets once I get the gallery up and running.

So I should get my black tip at training on Monday and from there Kelly and I will begin the next step towards getting our black belt. We will be aiming from grade either around November 2009 or March 2010.