A Very Nice Gesture

Mrs. Earp showed me this the other day. Kevin’s Sensei Dave wrote a truly touching post on Facebook a day or so after he earned his adult black belt.

I wanted to post this today because 1. I am very proud of Kevin, and 2. I am stuck in training today. Enjoy!

Congrats to Kevin!

Years on the mat here at PMA! He has grown so much as a young man. He has gained so much from his training time. He has struggled and prevailed.

Once a shy little boy, he is now a brave and empowered young man who is willing to try so many different things. He’s very active in school activities and track and field.
And just like the rest of his siblings, he completely dominates his academics, he treats school like it is his career, and he is moving to the top, get that corner office ready.

He’s an active member of our leadership team and demo team. Most of all he’s always been a consistent, hard-working student of the martial arts. I can honestly say he possesses all of the trademark qualities that that most schools advertise a student will receive from their training.

I wish I had this as a kid myself. All these kids are better than I ever was. I am so proud of him.

Congratulations Kevin. Congratulations to your family as they are the ones who helped coach you to be consistent in your work to get to this point.
You have my respect young man.

It’s one to know you are proud of your children, but it’s another thing when people so accomplished say good things about your children.

How About Another Belt?

It’s been a while since I posted about the kids, so I figured a lazy Sunday would do the trick. On Friday night, Kevin and Princess P had a belt test for their martial arts program. Both Kevin and Princess P have their junior black belts, so Kevin was earning his black belt with green stripe (above), and Julia earned her black belt with yellow stripe.

The test was very rigorous, took an hour, and they both performed very well. Julia seemed to be kicking much harder than Kevin, but Kevin was punching so hard, I thought he was going to put a hole through the punching bag. They also worked with other students, sparring, and using self-defense tactics.

As you can see above, Julia had a bad hair day after all the fighting, and Kevin was really sweaty. It was all worth it, though, because every belt test is closer to an adult black belt. It’s something both Kevin and Princess P love doing, and it keeps them in shape.

Their sensei – to the right of Kevin – has a video of Kevin working, kicking once in regular time, and jumping in the air before kicking in slow-motion. He looks like Neo from The Matrix.

I’m very proud of them both.