"This was a really cool idea I had. One month before my test, I am going
to have MY adult Black Belt students from my school do a "mock" 4th
Degree Black Belt test that will be six days long, like my original
ones. My students can see me put everything I do into action and see how
I can apply what I teach them and see my struggles as well, to know I
am still a student constantly learning as well. Another way of holding
myself accountable. Kind of a theme here. But who better to give me a
Black Belt test like that then my OWN Black Belts I have taught in my
school?"
-My SECOND blog post on July 11, 2011
I wrote the above quote in my second blog post I ever wrote when I chose to begin writing this blog. I was in the middle of a very hard transition and it was one year shy of my 4th Degree Black Belt test. I was in the middle of a lot of hard circumstances and I made the choice to overcome them by acting "as if". A true master can get through anything despite the circumstances. That is what I kept telling myself as my mantra to keep going and get moving. The title of that blog post was "The Goals".
In that post I wrote a whole bunch of my goals for the year. One of them, a very big one, was to create a last hurrah, six day Black Belt test like I used to that will be cumulative to all I have done in the last fourteen-fifteen years in my martial arts training and tests and bring me the ultimate challenge. I wanted to be brought to my peak, pushed beyond my limits, push my body to physical exhaustion, mentally peaked, and spiritually trying. Why? Not to torture myself, but to prove myself worthy of the title master. Just because I owned a school, I did not let people call me "master" because I had such a standard and expectations that come with that title, I wanted to earn it. This test would be preparing me for the real test.
When I trained under my old master, we used to do six day Black Belt tests, each day with a specific topic that you were tested 2-3 hours each day on. One day was usually a written test where we answered philosophical questions to get our mindset, a conditioning day of exercises and stamina tests, a basics day where our technique and stances were tested, a forms day where our forms were performed and challenged, a self-defense day doing all we were taught to defend ourselves in different circumstances, and a last day where we did a little bit of everything and we never knew what would happen. Actually, on the schedule it would say "Wouldn't you love to know" as the topic of the day. And that final day was always with an audience of a large panel of judges. Some were Black Belts from the school of past and present or outside school owners.
My goals was to have my own Black Belts construct this test to push me and know exactly what I wanted. It was hard but of course at the very last minute they all did come together. I got worried it wouldn't happen the way I wanted it, but I knew either way it was going to happen. Three people really stepped up and really choreographed the entire test and I was told, "It was worse than planning a wedding"
Dear friend George Valentino who is a third degree Black Belt and co-owner of ATA Martial Arts in Springfield, NJ has judged a couple of my tests atTMAFC and has a great idea of how testing is like and voluntarily stepped forward to help plan, coordinate, set up, and facilitate my test. He also conducted part one sessions during the day of the test. My Black belt and the powerhouse of friendship himself, Robert Lisciandrello, also help plan the test and facilitated the main parts of the afternoon testing and kept communication with Mr. Valentino and the other people involved with the test, with the help of other TMAFC Black Belts. Robert was TMAFC's first awarded Black Belt and has trained the most with me so it only seemed fitting that HE run the test. And of course, mentor and dear friend Professor Lisa Sargese had done a lot of running around, phone calling, planning, and purchasing for this test. Lisa has trained me psyhologically and spiritually as a mentor, knows me on a personal and professional level, and has seen footage of ALL my Black Belt tests in the past to understand what I have gone through and what I was looking for and added a great deal of insight.
This fellowship came together to prepare what they, and myself, hoped to be the ultimate Black Belt test of Black Belt tests. This would indeed be my last six day Black Belt test, it was a HUGE milestone in my training, and they knew my expectations were extremely high, not necessarily for them, but from me. It's also my first multiple day test since 2008 with the old master. I would not have been happy doing my 4th degree test without this pretest. Again, this was a way to prepare for the real test.
They planned together the schedule based on what I do my tests schedule as, they came up with all things I used to do, things they've seen, bounced ideas off of each other for new things, Lisa had reconstructed the mental day and took charge of that day as a cumulative exam of all she and I have done over the year. Robert and George compared notes of the physical aspects. They all decided who they would contact as judges, what mentors could be there or not be there, how they wanted to set it up, who they wanted to invite, and what to do at the conclusion of the test (this was a pretest after all).
I completely left it in their hands, and I wholeheartedly trusted they would deliver. Although Lisa told me it was very stressful. Planning anything is stressful, but these individuals knew how important this test would be for me. This is what I have been blogging for the entire year about, becoming a master. After a year of doing everything I said I would, after fourteen years of just visualizing this test, I was down to the very last week. And then finally, the week was here. The 4th Degree Black Belt "Mock" Pretest began on June 11, 2012 and the one to kick it off was none other than my mentor, Professor Sargese.
TO BE CONTINUED.....
Yours in service,
A TRENTO
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