Karate Update

Jackie rocked her test and is now officially a Nidan (2nd Degree). She did very well in every aspect but really excelled in the knife defense - she took her instructor by suprise. (She's only the first part of the video - the 2nd is Tracey who was testing for -and passed - her 3rd degree and is very fun to watch as well.)


A total of about 3 hours - combos, tonfas, bo (staff), forms, self-defense, sparring, and blackjacks (20 pushups - 1 squat, then 19 pushups - 2 squats...)

Tea ceremony (saki for instructor) then the punch (actually she got punched by 5 members on the board - karate people are odd - "I respect your test so I will now hit you really hard!"

After a few weeks of rest - it's time to train for Salt Lake. Barely made it out of town before blizzard hit. We made the decision to leave a few hours early and missed the closing of I-70 from Morrison to Vail by about 4 hours. Did get a few extra hours at Glenwood though before heading to Salt Lake the next morning!

Jackie drew the current Champion (NBL - nat'l blackbelt league) for continuous sparring - held her own but lost. Jackie was at the bottom of the weight class and 12 yrs old (13 the next day) and the girl was at the top of the weight class and 16. We were very proud and she was pumped that she did as well as she did! Guess we have to think about going to other national tournaments. Some photos from Salt Lake (April 17 & 18)

On another travel note - we are heading to Mexico in June if anyone wants us to pick up a virus for them! Go figure - we've been planning this (and of course just finished paying for it) for 6 months. We are going to play it by ear - thank goodness for trip insurance! May have to wait to take the trip later.