So this was really scary. It was a pretty small room and there were a lot of karate kids there. They all warmed up together. Jack caught a picture of something that wasn't so scary, them stretching. But I kinda wish I had had the camera because getting a picture of the black belts doing squat kicks and just missing the kids heads that were in front of them was about to give me a heart attack. And seeing them all doing jumping jacks was quite something also.
Natalie performed her kata. I have been drilling this into her for so long now it is insane. I said Layla doesn't need to practice much but Natalie? I am proud of her for different reasons. This is hard for her. Really hard. She really has to work at it. I think seeing all the cool stuff at the graduation helped her. She wants to be able to do all the things blacks belts can do.
Layla got a medal also, but I don't have a good picture of it. Each week they have to fill out their black belt action list. This tells them if they have listened to their family, helped their family and such. One of the reasons I like them going to karate, not only is it teaching them self confidence and strength it is also teaching them to act respectfully to everyone. One of the sensai's gave a kinda speech at the end. He said something like karate is what we need now. People who have a strong work ethic, respect and the determination to do hard work. I see that. I see them being taught that. It is something that is really important to us and I am glad to see it reinforced.
And maybe you wonder how we got such a close up of Natalie getting her next belt? Well remember how I told you it was loud, crowded and kinda crazy? Natalie heard them call Natalie, but did not hear the Walter part. Of course I could see her talking to her friends and playing around. So at the end we asked her sensai to give her the new belt. He was nice enough and understood that it was probably hard to hear. But knowing Sensai, he probably knew that Natalie was dazed off somewhere :)
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