First Stripe!

Last Wednesday, C tested for his first stripe in karate. Basically, he had to show that he was learning the steps of the first kata. A kata is the Japanese word for "form" or a series of movements that they learn.

I know C looks much larger than the boy next to him. That's because he is! In karate, you move up in belt (and class) by the number of hours you've had in the dojo. Of course, you have to pass the test for each belt, but you aren't eligible to test for a belt until you've had a certain number of hours of instruction in the dojo. So, there are some guys that are smaller than him, but that have been at it longer that have much higher rank than he does. But, there are also kiddos his size or older that are right where he is.

He is very proud of that first stripe!!