“
The crowd around me
cheered as I, blue-eyed, blonde-haired Amy Ferguson received my black
belt. Just two years ago, I was acting
up, getting bad grades and constantly arguing with my dad. How did all of this happen? Well, to tell you completely, we have to go back
to the summer of 2003. It was a suffocating
90 degrees outside and my friends, Rachel Johnson, and the Williams Brothers, Randy
and Kyle were bored out of our minds.
They had the same problems I did: Low grades, acting out, the whole nine yards.
But, we also had something causing this kind of stuff to happen: My mom had
passed away after battling cancer, Mr. and Mrs. Williams were divorced and the
brothers lived with their mom, and Rachel’s grandmother had passed away from
old age. We were all looking for a healthy way to deal with this sort of stuff,
and found one, as unusual as it was.
“So, we’re all agreed.
This is the worst summer of our entire lives.” Rachel said “Agreed.” We all
replied. Finally, we decided to play baseball even though Randy complained it was
too hot out. He’s such a wimp. We all
decided to make it Boys VS. Girls and we tossed a coin to see who would hit
first. The boys won, and I couldn’t see because of the blinding sun in my eyes
as I ran into the outfield. We made the
rules: No stealing, because only one
person would be in the outfield at a time. Leading was allowed, but if you got
picked off, that was your problem. I had
just ended the inning by tagging Kyle at first when I heard a loud noise from
up the street.
A
postal service truck with one of those blue airplane-looking things, swerved
by, just hit my mailbox dropping everything off, and then tore off down the
street with its brakes squealing like they were saying they couldn’t take the
speed anymore.
That night, my dad
and I were thumbing through the mail when he noticed a Sky Blue flyer nestled
between two pieces of junk and read it aloud:
“Do you want your child to learn the Respect and Discipline they need to
make it through their everyday lives? Do you want them to become more confident
about themselves, treat others respectfully, and bring their grades up? If you
answered ‘yes’ to any of these questions, we’ve got the perfect place for you!
It’s
Martial Arts to teach students these lessons.
It’s not too late to sign your child up! The cost is $175 for the entire
summer. If you’re interested, call 1800- 2304- TAEKWONDO or log onto
www.Taekwondo.com for more info and sign-ups!”
Next thing I knew,
my dad was online (I’ll give you three guesses where he logged onto.) “Dad! You can’t possibly be thinking of
sending me there!” I began. It was more
nerve than not wanting to go. “ Well, I
see you have plans to sit around and do nothing. Why not just try it out?” “ Because I’ve seen these people on TV.
They’re so perfect, I’m not going to fit in.” “Listen, I just got an Email. Kyle, Randy and Rachel are going to be there,
too. So, now you’ll have some friends there. It’s at Alpine Academy Of The
Martial Arts, according to the website. I’ll bring you there after dinner, OK?”
By this point , I could tell I wasn’t getting anywhere so I sighed and
responded reluctantly: “OK.” “You’ll
thank me for this.” “Sure, whatever you say.”
The place was
about a half hour from my house, and it was set in a location that looked like
an open field. There was the
and the Training Hall all right near each other. There were also the Student
Dorms and the Counselor’s Dorms.
Finally, there were a set of bleachers and a baseball field in the
distance. I watched as my dad signed my
name on the registration list. A tall guy with greasy black hair, sunglasses, a
white t-shirt, and a pair of faded blue jeans introduced himself.
“Hey, I’m Brandon,
the head counselor here. Welcome to
have a camp assembly there at 9:00.”
“OK”. Then, I walked over to the bleachers and
waited for the assembly to start. It
wasn’t long before
and the other counselors stood in the center of the baseball field.
Hello, everyone. And welcome to
and I’m the head counselor here at
Now, I’d like to introduce the counselors here and tell you about some
rules.” He pointed to a man with short
blond hair and square shaped glasses.
“This is John.” Next, he pointed
to a girl with long brown hair “This is
skin. He had curly black hair and thin glasses.
“And this is Antonio.” He declared.
“Okay, and now, Antonio, please explain the Rules to everyone.” Antonio
went into the middle of the stadium and started speaking
“Rule 1: Alpine
Academy is a professional school and they are allowing us to use their grounds
during the summer while the students are on break, so treat this place with
respect because it isn’t ours. Rule 2:
All students have free access to the pool and have a chance to improve their
skills in the training hall or work out in the gym during free time. You can
use this time to do anything you wish, as long as you are in your own room by
11:30. Rule 3: Martial Arts are a sport,
which means you must all act like true sportsmen. You must respect all property,
students, instructors, and orders. And rule 4 is the most important one of all:
Have fun!” Everyone clapped as Antonio sat back down in his chair.
got up again “If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions, feel free to
talk to us. And also, when you get into
the cafeteria, you’ll get a meal card. Just swipe that into the scanners to be
able to have your meal. Okay, if anyone
has any questions, we’ll take them now.”
No one raised their hand, so
went on. “OK, I’d advise you to have a light meal before we train, and then you
can eat more if you want to after. We don’t want anyone getting sick. So, after
we’re done with lunch, we’ll work on some speed drills.”
Although I was
hungry, I decided
good, so I scanned my card and made my way to the most amazing buffet I’d ever
seen:
Salami, ten different cheeses, dressings, salads, eight kinds of bread and
rolls, mayonnaise, and a whole table of pie, cake, ice cream, and more just for
dessert! I had a small sandwich with
honey turkey, American cheese and mayonnaise. Then, I grabbed some ice cream
with hot fudge. I had just finished when
announced it was time for our speed drills.
First, we warmed
up in the Training hall doing jumping jacks, and push ups. I wasn’t very good
at that, but
assured me I would get better as time went on.
We jumped rope, which was my specialty: I’ve won the Granville Local
Double Dutch Tournament for the past two years.
Next, we stretched our legs and arms, and then
drills.
We went out to the
baseball field where the instructors were waiting, each holding a pair of fake
foam swords.
began to talk: “Ok, what’s going to happen is that each person will join any
one of three lines. The person at the front of the line will be attacked by
these fake swords. We know some of you are new here, so all you have to do is
try your best. When the teacher swings at you with the swords, put up your
hands and try to block it like this.”
She held her hand straight up and down. “If you’re hit with a sword, you
go to the back of the line and the person at the front will be attacked next.
Good luck, and just go at your own speed. Don’t worry about everyone
else.” “Ready? On your mark, get set,
GO!” I was behind a tall, thin kid with light brown hair and glasses. The kid ran up and blocked every time
him. Finally, she faked right, and then
attacked left. The kid took a hit and
when to the back of the line. That meant
I was up next! I drew a big, deep
breath and stepped to the front of the line. Everything seemed to be moving in
slow- motion.
block a few of her swings. Finally, I
was defeated when she swung at me from the right. She smiled and said “Good Job, Amy.” “Thanks.”
I said as I ran to the back of the line.
Suddenly,
in the Training Hall for about thirty minutes, and then we’ll have a
break.” I noticed the kid in front of me
was a Green Belt, which I knew meant he had been there before because everyone
else had a white belt, and I’d read that green was the third color belt in
Martial Arts. I nearly ran to catch up
to him and I must have seemed out of breath because he asked: “Are you
OK?” “Yeah, thanks. I just haven’t run
in a while.” “So, what’s your name?” “I’m Amy Ferguson. What’s your name?” “I’m Sam Turner. Nice to meet you.” “You too.
So, what’s this pattern
talking about?” “Oh, it’s a requirement
for testing.” “Testing?! We’re going to
be tested?!”
He laughed at my
jumpiness. “Just relax. You’ll only be tested when you’re ready. And it’s still a few weeks away. The pattern
is a bunch of Kicking, Blocking, and Punching.
Each belt has to learn a specific one for testing. It’s almost more like a dance than some kind
of battle technique. For example, you’re
a White Belt, so your pattern is Chon-Ji (Chun-jee).”
“Chummy?” Again he
laughed. “No, Chon-Ji. You’ll learn it after a few times.” Before I knew it, we were at the Training
Hall. “Well, nice to meet you, Amy.
Good luck.”
“Thanks. It was nice to meet you,
too.” When I got inside, I instantly met
up with Kyle, Randy, and Rachel. There
was also a young girl with hair that had been striped a light, vibrant
blue. Her eyes were also blue and she
seemed not to mind the blond hair that was piled randomly on top of and nearly
falling off her head.
and began to talk to us: “Before I show you the pattern, let’s get into ready
position. This is ready position.” He spread his legs apart, but not very far
and lined each fist up with his legs.
“OK.
Now I’m going to show you the pattern. I’ll do it once and then you can
try to follow me the second time.” “Low
Block to the left.” He put
his hand horizontally in front of his left leg, which was now in front of his
right. “Punch left.” He pulled his right arm back and punched with
his left. “Now we do the same thing to
the right.” He blocked and punched to the right. “Same thing with the front and
with the back.” “It’s pretty simple: Low
Block to the left, punch to the left, low block to the right, punch to the
right. Then, low block and punch to the front, low block and punch to the
back.” “Everyone think they’re ready to
try the first part?”
I was amazed. That was only the first
part?! I looked around the room and
heard everyone call their instructor Sir or Ma’am and so I figured I should be
doing the same. “Yes, Sir.” I said. “OK, then. At the end of the pattern, we say the name.
So, just yell out ‘Chon-Ji!’ When you’re done.”
“Ready? And Go!” Everyone went
into a low block and punched and I tried my best just to keep up. All these quick
changes in position were really starting to confuse me, but
third time when
announced that class was almost over for now.
After our class, we would have a half- hour of free time and a half-hour
of training. “Ok, everyone. Line up
please. Can I have all the instructors up front?” A muscular guy with brown hair that looked
like it had never been brushed and a thin girl with glasses joined
class. “Feet together. And Bow.”
Everyone said “Taekwon” at the same time that they bowed. “Okay, you are dismissed.” The Girl said. Everyone thanked her, than
left the class. It was free time now,
and even though I wanted to spend it with Randy, Rachel, and Kyle, I needed to
know Chon-Ji for the test, so I stayed in the Training Hall and asked Brandon
where we should go if we wanted extra help.
He told me to stay here and he and the other Instructors would be back
with some equipment. About ten minutes
later,
returned just like he had said. He was
carrying gymnastic mats, these things that looked like little pillows, and the
other two instructors were each carrying a big red punching bag and Some gear
that could have been a boxer’s: There was
a red helmet, things that looked a lot like boxing gloves, and a pair of these
big red shoes that reminded me of a clown’s.
thanked them, and then introduced them. The thin girl with glasses was
Cassandra, and the muscular guy with messed up hair was Andy. I shook hand with them just as the door to the
class opened again. “OK, I see we have
some more takers for the Training Session.”
He said. I watched as Rachel, Randy, and Kyle came in, happy to know
that they were here too. We did Chon-Ji
a few more times and I felt like I was getting the hang of it; that is, until
rest of the moves. “Okay, good job. Now let’s try the rest of the pattern.”
that you have it down.”
“Cassandra?” She stepped to the
front of the room in ready position.
“OK, the second part of Chon-Ji is pretty simple.” “This is an inner forearm block.” She held her hand up vertically with her
wrist turned inward. “You’ll need to
know that for the second part. Ok, everyone ready?” We nodded, so Cassandra began the second
pattern and had us follow her commands: “Inner Forearm right, punch right.
Inner forearm left, punch left. Inner forearm to the back, punch to the back.”
“Now, we’re going to inner forearm block to the front, and then punch to the
front twice. Then, we’re going to step back and punch twice. We say ‘Chon-Ji!’ when we’re done, OK?” Again, we nodded and so Cassandra set off on
the last part of the pattern. “Inner
Forearm to the front, punch once, twice. Stepping back punch once, twice.
Good. Chon-Ji!” We all yelled “Chon-Ji!” in unison. “Very good. Now,
in the School, so we’re going to introduce you to Sparring.” I tried to think if I had ever heard the term
sparring before. Then, I remembered:
It was the last round of the 1994 Championship boxing match between a guy named
Benny “The Hammer” Henderson and the World Heavyweight Champion, Alex Technivov
from
was the word one of the announcers had used to introduce who was fighting,
something like: “And sparring in the Championship Match tonight, rookie boxing
champ Benny “The Hammer” Henderson…” I
could only hope that sparring didn’t mean fighting as Cassandra and Andy passed
out the stuff I had seen: A Red helmet
made from a kind of red squishy plastic, the things that looked like boxing
gloves, and a pair of Clown Shoes.
Andy spoke for the first time since I had met him: “As you may or may
not know, Sparring is a key part of taekwondo. Sparring is a lot like boxing,
except that you can use your feet as well as your hands. This task will test your reflexes and help you
stay sharp and quick. It will be very
tiring, but also very rewarding. Now,
when you spar, you find a partner. For
now we will start by calling ‘Leg’, ‘Belt’, or ‘Head.’ When you hear us call that part, try to tag
your partner’s leg, belt, or head.
You’ll also want to defend yourself against being tagged by whacking
your partner’s hand out of the way.
These should just be light, quick tags and then eventually, we’ll move
on to kicking and punching instead of tagging. But for today, we’ll just go
with tagging.” “Ok, ready? Set, go! Leg!” I had partnered up with Rachel, who was
faster than I’d expected. It was hard
both to tag her and to avoid her tags.
“Head!” Cassandra called as I pulled my head up, I heard her say: “Good
job, Amy. When you’re trying to tag someone’s legs, keep your head up so it’s
harder for them to hit in case we switch to head.” “OK.”
I replied. I got Rachel’s head once or twice before Andy called out
“Belt!” Still trying to keep up my head,
I drooped my hands down, almost covering the belt completely. Still, Rachel was
fast, and I guess she probably hit more times than I thought she would
before. Finally, after a few rounds of
sparring, Andy announced that free time was just about over. We lined up and bowed to Cassandra and Andy,
who dismissed us. When I got outside, I
was happy to see that Sam was waiting for me.
“Hey, Amy.” “Hey, Sam. How’re
you doing?” “Pretty good. You?” “OK.”
“So, how’d your training session go?”
“Good. What’ve you been doing all this time?” “Helping
truck.” “Well, that was nice of you.” “Thanks.
Hey, do you want to take a walk through the forest? I know a trail that
goes back to camp.” “Well, I’d love to,
but my friends…” Randy cut me off: “We
don’t mind, go right ahead. We’ll see you back at camp.” “Really?”
Rachel answered “Sure, but on one condition: tell us everything when you
get back.” “OK.” I said with a
smile. I realized it was the first time
I had smiled in years. Maybe things won’t be so bad around here, I
thought. As we started walking on the
trail, I told Sam all about the training session, how we had learned Sparring
and techniques for sparring called one-steps.
I told him about the weird- looking gear and Cassandra and Andy. I even got brave enough to tell him how
nervous I was about sparring for the first time. When we finally got back to camp, it was
almost nightfall.
guitar around his neck, surrounded by a bunch of counselors, instructors and
many students I had never met. “Hey,
you guys. You’re just in time for a little Party and storytelling around the
Campfire. Come on.” He said, motioning
for us to sit down. We sat down and
Marshmallows and Graham Crackers for making a treat called s’mores with
chocolate, roasted marshmallows, and gram crackers. “Thanks.” We said at the same time. We put our Marshmallows on wooden sticks and
roasted them over the fire as
asked if anyone knew any good Campfire Stories. Sam volunteered. He tried to sound all freaky as he started
telling a story called “The Master of Mordred.” “Our story begins with an ordinary kid
named Ernie Rice. Ernie was a kid that never got up for school in the morning
because he never had any energy. Then,
one day, Ernie found out that he was actually a wizard from the
years ago. He was provided with a
powerful witch named Elpenor (Elp-uh-noor) to watch over him. Elpenor helped Ernie find out that there was
an evil wizard named Aramis who was draining the energy out of everyone in
Mordred so he could find an ancient treasure located in a secret cavern.
Because of the help Elpenor gave Ernie, she was knocked unconscious by Aramis’
magic. Just before she was sent into her strange state, she left Ernie with a
magical talisman that looked like a torch, only with a light bulb where the
flame should have been. In the end,
Ernie shone the light of the talisman into Aramis’ eyes. Because he was afraid
of the light, Aramis was defeated and his spell was broken. Everyone in Mordred
woke up from their long sleep and Ernie was remembered as the hero who got rid
of Aramis and broke the spell that had kept Elpenor away from Mordred for
days. When the King heard of Ernie’s triumph,
he made Ernie’s birthday, January 15 a feast day to remember Ernie’s great
deeds. The End.” Everyone clapped for Sam’s story as
campfire songs like “Michael, row the boat ashore” and “When the saints go
marching in.” A few hours later, Brandon checked his watch
and realized it was almost 11:00 and we had to be back in our rooms by 11:30 ,
so he ended the Campfire with one last announcement: “OK, everyone. We have to
get going because it’s almost 11:00. Just one last reminder: Testing is next
week on Thursday the fifteenth. If you don’t know whether you’re ready to test
or not, you can come and talk to me or any of the other counselors. Tomorrow,
we’ll have the pre-test for anyone who thinks they’re ready. Good luck and try
to get a good night’s sleep.” I was so
filled up with s’mores that I didn’t think I could make it back to camp, but I
started walking anyway. By the time I
got back to camp, not only were my friends there, but they were all in their
pajamas already, too. It seemed like I had just seen them at the Campfire not
even five minutes ago. As Sam hung a right for the Boy’s dorms, I asked him if
he was going to be testing. “Not for
awhile still. I just got my Green Belt when you and your friends came to this
camp, so I have a long ways to go. But, I’ll be there when you go for the next
belt. Definitely.” “Thanks.” He just smiled. “Well, goodnight. I lo..” he cut himself off “I .. Love that shirt you’re wearing.” “Thanks. Well, goodnight.” “Goodnight.” Then, we each left for our
separate dorms. Although I thought
everything in the Girl’s dorm was quiet, Rachel suddenly sprang to life when I
came in. She was smiling from ear to
ear. All of a sudden, she sounded like a
regular teenager: “Oh, my god! You have to tell me everything. Is he cute? Do you like him? Does he like you? How was
your walk?” “Rachel, slow down. Can you ask one question at a time?” I wondered
carefully. “Sorry. Do you like
him?” This was the part that had always
been a little embarrassing for me. My face and cheeks turned red and I could
have sworn my heart rate doubled in that stretch of time that was only a
second, but seemed like forever.
“Maybe.” I said. “Do you mean
maybe yes” she put her thumb up. “Or maybe not” she put her thumb down. I replied only by putting my thumb up. She
was more excited than I was and would have let out a squeal if I hadn’t stopped
her. “Ssh, there are people trying to sleep.”
“Right, thanks.” She whispered. “I’ll tell you more in the morning. We
both need sleep if we’re going to pre-test tomorrow.” “OK.” She said, though I could tell she was
dying for details about Sam. We got up
around 9:00 the next morning and had to eat a quick breakfast before our
Pre-test. I piled two small pancakes
and some sausage onto my plate and sat down at the table furthest from the
buffet line. Rachel and Randy were already there, and I noticed
Kyle was still waiting to get through the buffet line. On Rachel’s advice, I had invited Sam to eat
with us and now I saw that he had a small group of three friends with him: A tall boy that was a bit chunky wearing a
red belt , who Sam introduced as Daniel,
A short girl with long brown hair named Penelope who was a green belt
like Sam and another guy with short blonde hair who was wearing a Red Belt with
Black Stripes. I remembered asking Sam
what the stripes had meant during our walk. He said it was a rank in between
two belts, called recommended. It was
higher than the belt with no stripes, but lower than the next color belt. A Red belt with recommended stripes was one
of the highest ranks before black belt.
We finished up breakfast and headed down to the training hall. Everyone was in ready position. Cassandra
came to the front of the room and started talking: “Chon-Ji. Ready position. Remember
to exhale when you make each move. It makes your movement stronger and more
fluent. Ok, block left, punch left,
block right, punch right, block up front, and punch to the front. Block to the
back, punch to the back. Good.
Now, block right, punch right,
block left, punch left, block to the back, punch to the back, block to the
front two punches stepping forward, two punches backward, and ‘Chon-Ji!”’ “Chon-Ji!”
Everyone yelled. “Good..” Cassandra
said. While the kids that weren’t
testing worked on Sparring Drills, the
kids that were testing were called out in order of belt color: Starting with
White Belts, then Yellow, Green, Blue, Red, and Black in that order. We reviewed our Patterns and One-steps while
the instructors made sure that our stances and positions were good. “Good job, Amy.” said
when I was done. Finally, the pre-test was over and testing was here. Rachel, Randy, Kyle and I were all testing
for our Yellow Belts. Cassandra, who I noticed had a red belt with black stripes,
was going for her 1st degree Black Belt. Sam’s friend Penelope was going for her Blue
Belt and Sam was in the audience, which made me both happy and nervous. The test itself wasn’t nearly as bad as I
thought.
announced that they would start with the Belts closest to Black, and then keep
going down until they got to the white belts.
As I watched I learned that Cassandra would have to perform every single
pattern all the way from red Belt down to white! She was so graceful, so amazing and dedicated
when she started performing her patterns that I learned this was about more
than learning how to fight. It was an art form, and I decided that one day, no
matter how many years I had to come back, I would be the girl going for her
Black Belt. It was amazing: In only one summer, I had gone
from little miss attitude to a whole new person with a different perspective on
life. Before I knew it, it was my turn
to do Chon-Ji. I was so happy that morning
when we went for our pre-test that I told my dad I was going for Yellow belt
soon. He was one of the first people to arrive on testing day. I was relieved to know that each belt had
to know a pattern from the belt below it, which meant the yellow belts would be
doing Chon-Ji with Rachel, Randy, Kyle and I.
I relaxed myself, trying to remember that the audience didn’t know the
pattern, so how would they know if I messed up?
I remembered Cassandra’s words and did the pattern without any major
problems. At the end of testing, I
noticed there was a small table set up with all the belt colors from Yellow to
Black. Cassandra told us to take off
our belts. I was ecstatic! Losing these
belts meant all of us- Rachel, Randy, Kyle and I were getting our yellow
belts! Next summer I practically begged
to go back. Sam was testing for his Blue
Belt just as I arrived at camp the next year. I came back every year, until I
kept the promise to myself: On October 5, 2005 , Randy, Rachel, Kyle and I were
going for our First degree Black belts!
Sam couldn’t be in the audience that time, but it was for a good
reason: He was now our new instructor!
He had gotten his Third Degree Black Belt a few days ago and next summer, he
would be off to
to compete in the Grand Martial Arts World Tournament. I would miss him, but still be hoping for him
to win. My dad was just as happy as I
was when I got my Black belt because he started seeing a change: I was more
responsible, getting better grades, and always had a positive outlook on the
start of another day. So that was how I,
Amy Ferguson, went from having a terrible attitude to having my first degree
Black belt.