Haidong Gumdo Testing

I took my Gumdo belt promotion test this past Saturday. I was super nervous because I was testing before my teacher's instructor, Master Estrada. For the past 3 years all I've heard about him was how tough he was and how much tougher on his students he is then my teacher is with us. And my teacher can be harsh. But he turned out to be a sweet, nurturing kind of guy. He had his nephew sitting at the judging table with him - he looked to be in his late 20s early 30s. He was nice in his own way as he flirted a little with me by winking and smiling at me from across the room. It caught me off guard so I just politely smiled and turned my head. The guy was cute but it's not like I'm going to be seeing him again anytime soon.

Before class my mouth started getting dry and I was afraid I was going to forget some of the moves just because I was nervous. It was pretty obvious to anyone who looked at me how nervous I was. People were trying to be encouraging and tell me it was going to be ok. What I didn't know prior was that most of the techniques and forms we did was done as a group instead of alone in front of the instructor. That makes it much easier because if you're unsure you can just follow along. When testing started and we were doing warm ups - the combo of having a dry mouth due to nerves and asthma caused me to gag a few times but, thankfully, I didn't throw up. I could hear Master Estrada asking my teacher what was wrong with me after I did that.

I made a mistake with the paper cutting - you're only supposed to bring the sword down level to your waist but I kept bringing it all the way down to the floor. I was just nervous - that's the problem. When my teacher was telling me to use the proper stance - I was too nervous to comprehend the words coming out of his mouth. So he said it in English. But Master Estrada was very sweet about it saying, "It's OK, you're only a white belt. You just have to keep practicing." He was so nice, in fact, when this one kid was doing the candle snuffing (putting out candle by the wind your sword movement creates) and having a hard time - he let him continue to do it until he put the candle out. The kid tried about 30 times. I thought we were only allowed 10-15 tries. I did the paper cutting in lieu of candle snuffing because I was a white belt. Next belt promotion test I'll have to snuff the candle. Not looking forward to that as it's not easy. You have to swing the sword from behind your back and bring it over the candle without knocking the candle over yet getting close enough to the flame that it goes out. You end up stopping just short of getting close enough to the flame, which was the kid's problem.

Now that I've met Master Estrada I won't be so nervous during testing next time.
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