Last Tuesday, I was working in the basketball court area of a local rec center with a few of the other black belts on their forms. We started with the first 1st degree form & then I asked them what they wanted to do next.
"Koryo", the 1st degree form in World TKD Federation, was the universal response.
It's a fun form & the beginning has double side kicks (low & high) that can really show off the practitioner's abilities. Heck, I enjoy that part of the form more than any other section.
As it turns out, basketball courts have floors that are well-waxed, shiny & quite a bit on the slick side. So slick, in fact, that a certain black belt attempting the high part of that kick combo might discover that the ball of his foot is inadequate for keeping him firmly standing on terra firma. Yeah, that "certain" black belt was yours truly.
Now, if this was a stuntman competition, this guy had it won - hands down! My right leg kicked high; and the left leg, apparently saddened at being all alone, decided to join righty...in mid-air. The result was a horizontal, twisting position that had me facing the opposite direction of my intended kick - again, in mid-air.
There I was, headed for a personal crash of NASCAR proportions, when the years of HKD training kicked in. The arms came up, forearms in front of my face, head turned to the side & legs extended to prevent my stomach from belly flopping in a most painful way. BOOM! textbook front fall..albeit from an, um, elevated position.
The guys were pretty shocked - even more so when I stood right up & got right back into the mix.
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