Kapow!

On Tuesday, Joey graduated from being a white belt in tae kwon do to a "yellow stripe" – kind of a halfway point between the white and yellow belts. Most of the skills he was tested on involve memorization of impressively complex "patterns," which are tightly scripted series of movements, each with a range of punches, twists, and kicks. Joey's also learning more Korean than I would have thought (well, the numbers, anyway).

For his big finale, he did get to break a board with a side kick. Here he is preparing:

And, because he kicked through it faster than I'd expected, here he is with the splintered result:

Master Carter, who runs the tae kwon do academy, very graciously signed and dated each of the boards, noting with his Sharpie what kind of kick had conquered it. As he explained to me the next day, he has a big stack of broken boards from his early days in the sport, and he has no idea where any of them are from. He's trying to spare the next generation this trauma.

There's rather less physical contact between students than "The Karate Kid" led me to envision (none, at Joey's level), and Joey seems to be making poor progress toward the goal I have set for him, which is to learn to break people's necks with his mind. Still, the boy is having a good time, and hopes to continue next year back in Maryland.