Black Belt Grading – Brendan Love

At the grading on the 17th of December for my black belt, I was very nervous. I didn’t want to forget any of my theory or my patterns. Months and months of hard training, theory work and instructing the class throughout the 3 month period helped my confidence and power. When Master Daher arrived, I was nervous more than ever. I felt very proud when Mr Christensen asked me to say The Oath. Master Daher asked everyone if we wanted to do the grading first or the master class first, it took only seconds for everyone to decide to do the grading first – everyone was nervous and wanted to the grading out of the way.

Mr Christensen asked me to run the warm up and some of the junior grading session (naming the patterns and holding kick pads). After helping the junior class with their grading and slipping them some tips with their kicking e.g. pivot, more power etc, it was our turn. Emily Tisdell and I had put our hard training and all our effort into this next hour. After a gruelling session which included sparring against 2 opponents, Master Daher finally said the words Emily and I had been waiting for – “Brendan Love, Emily Tisdell you have successfully graded to 1st Dan”. I was so happy and proud of myself – all the hard work had paid off.

Master Daher gave us our Do Bocks and asked us to get changed for the Master Class. While I was getting changed I was so excited that I started jumping up and down and waving my arms everywhere – I was that happy.

Master Daher asked Emily and I to demonstrate the techniques throughout the Master Class which made me feel respected. Looking back at this year, I think the Instructors course in October helped me a lot because it improved my foot stance and balance techniques. I would like to thank Mr Christensen for his hard work, patience and belief in my abilities throughout the past 4 years, without his knowledge and assistance I would not have been able to achieve my 1st Dan black belt.

To all those younger students, I encourage you to continue to train hard and listen to and respect your instructors, as they will know what you are capable of even before you do and they will help you achieve your goals.

Tae Kwon

Brendan Love

1st Dan