Before the boys left on their vacation, we all did our belt testing for Krav Maga. Because of their schedule for flying back to Rhode Island with Grandpa, they had to do their belt testing with the older kids. When the kids found out they were going to be with kids they don't know - older kids they don't know - they got nervous. It was to the point that both of them were saying they would rather not belt test. Logan was very concerned he would be embarrassed. He was worried he'd be asked to do something he didn't know how to do. Declan picked up on Logan's nerves about it and got shy as well. We had talks, reassuring the boys that they would not be asked to do anything they didn't know how. We reminded them that part of having courage is doing something you're afraid to do.
Eventually Declan put on his determined face and folded his arms fiercely across his chest saying, "YES, MA'AM! I'LL DO IT!" Logan watched Declan and nodded, then a moment later said, "That thing Declan said? It's a probably for me." I said I wasn't going to force him to do the testing if he didn't want to but I would really love to see him do it. His response: "Probably is more yes than no."
When the time came, Declan was fine to go but Logan was still fighting with nerves. He got in line when it was time for class to start and found that the older kids do things pretty much the same as their normal class. And that was that. The testing went along fine and at the end of it, the boys got to take off their white belts and received their next-step belts of white with a yellow stripe (the belt system is more graduated for the younger kids).
Logan receiving his belt:
Declan receiving his belt:
A few words from Mr. Cohen:
Feelin' fine:
