Spanky's Place

The students started out their tests with individual sparring with their instructor, followed by board breaking (3/4" pine), and finishing up by performing their Hyungs.

For the board breaking, each student (below green belt) was allowed to choose between attempting to break their board by either hand (the board is placed on top of two cinder blocks spaced roughly 10" apart, and the student strikes a hammer fist blow to the center of the board -this is the easy way), or by foot (the board is held vertically at just above hip height by the instructor, and the student strikes a side kick blow to the center of the board -this is the hard way).

Ryley did well on her sparring, and when it came time to attempt breaking her board, she decided to try with her hand. I don't think she truly believed that she could break the board, and her first hammer fist strike showed it -her blow was ineffective, and she ended up hurting her hand. At that point, while rubbing her wrist, she asked her instructor if should could instead attempt to break the board with her foot. Note: until last night, Ryley had never attempted to do this before. Never.

Her instructor selected a new board, showed her how he wanted her to deliver the side kick (strike with the heel, not the toes), braced the board, and told her to try whenever she was ready. I had my camera phone ready, and snapped the pic just as she started to move. Her kick was so fast, and her form so perfect, that her foot was already back in "ready" position before the picture was actually captured. Click on the picture for a larger version, and check out her absolutely PERFECT form.

When she did her Hyung, she performed Chon-Ji. And yes, her form was absolutely perfect.

Yes, I'm bragging a bit. You have a problem with that? Take it up with my girl.