Black Belt Grading: Part VI...

My black belt grading is over and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I could have been sharper on a few things and it took me two goes to break two boards at one point but overall I felt like it was a pretty good day at the office.

The previous day was a senior belt class and it felt like everything I touched turned to shit and I spent large parts of Saturday evening wondering why I was even bothering to turn up to test the following day.

But I woke up the next day and stretched and got my head right. Then before I knew it I was getting up to be an opponent for the lower belts and, to quote Madonna, got into the groove.

Unless you've been through something that intense where you spend months training and honing your skills and pushing yourself to the limit it's difficult to explain what goes through your mind in the months and weeks beforehand but for me there were plenty of moments of panic, self-doubt, fear and nerves.

Then as soon as I was up testing and sparring I remembered something quite simple: to relax and breathe and enjoy the moment. And seven years of training suddenly came down to something so simple.

Best gag of the day belongs to the Missus. Because of my ongoing knee injury I'm not throwing lots of kicks so I've been relying heavily on my boxing during sparring and the head of the academy was kind enough to compliment my hand techniques.

At the end of the grading I went over to the Missus and asked her what she thought of it. She smirked and replied: 'Well... I've always told everyone you have excellent hand techniques...'

I married well.