Priscilla, Kris, John, and Ken all earn black stripes at their promotion test in January, 2010.

John and Kris perform the pattern Hwa-Rang.

Now, it’s Ken and Priscilla’s turn:

Below are videos of the January promotion test. Our red belts took turns sparring each other. It takes a great deal of courage and confidence to stand face to face and fight with people. Especially people who are already pretty good at fighting! We are very pleased that our students demonstrate self-control while still demonstrating solid sparring skills.

Kristian and Priscilla are on their way to black belt after passing the test for their first black stripe. They will now begin learning the final color belt pattern Choong Moo. For their test, they were required to demonstrate the ability to break with each leg equally by breaking two boards with a back kick. We are reminded that in Taekwon-Do, left and right must always be developed equally.

Full contact sparring is required for red belts during promotion tests. Here is the video of Kristian and Priscilla sparring. Note that more footage is available on the Oneonta Taekwon-Do YouTube channel.

 Matt Goodrich demonstrates the ability to perform several continuous kicks with great poise and technique…. front turning kick followed by back kick, skipping side kick followed by back kick followed by front turning kick, skipping front kick followed by skipping front turning kick followed by skipping side kick followed by skipping hook kick

Matt demonstrates board breaking and performs Hwa Rang at his interim Red belt test.

Fred demonstrates kicking, punching, and blocking combinations at the August 2008 test.

One of the most difficult patterns, Choong-Moo was originally a black belt pattern in ITF. Fred Schwed demonstrates at the August 2008 test.

Sorry again for the poor editing – I’ll try to fix this later…. There are a few seconds of blank screen in the beginning and then it just continues on and on… However, great job by Fred despite the cameraman being in the way.