The big test

 Here are some highlights from Ivan's karate testing for his yellow belt.  It was pretty fun and intense at the same time.  They started off with a special class/training for everyone.  There were 6 black belts there, one of whom is Ivan's Sensei.

 They did demonstrations and practices.  There were tons of people of all ages.  They were always bowing to each other and they talked about being nervous and how the color of the belt doesn't matter and that it takes 17 years to become a black belt.  The main Sensei had started this club in Regina and earlier that week had been to Sri lanka for karate and was headed to Egypt.  In between, he came to Regina to work with the kids here!  After the training, they started testing with the white belts.  3 black belts watched from the sides and helped position kids, while 3 other black belts sat at the judges' table at the front.  They started with the youngest kids, calling up 3-4 at a time.  The Sensei called out directions and counted for them. 

I didn't think Ivan had passed, but shows you what I know because he came back the next week from his regular training and said that his Sensei said that he wasn't too fond of Ivan's white belt anymore and he'd earned his yellow! He was so excited and we were so happy for him. Ivan really struggles to focus and I can see that his karate training can help him to learn to be still and on task- to center his energies on a specific moment, task, goal.