The Green Belt!

On August 18th Bentley received his green belt!  He is very happy, and was very excited about it.  I'm not sure if he is more pleased with the new belt or with the pretty (my word, not his!) scythes he can now use in weapon's class, but either way it is a win.  :)

It was a bittersweet moment for Jake - he did not receive his green belt at the same time.  The move from purple to green is a big deal at our dojo.  It is a combination of good work with stances and leadership ability that lets you progress.  Bentley, being older (and having a different personality!) has really enjoyed leading classes at karate.  His Sensei tells me that he is better at leading classes than some of his black belts are!  Quite impressive for an 8 year old.   He is confident, assertive, loud, engaging, demanding, and knows all the material to cover with no hesitation.  

Bentley leads plenty of classes, because he went to Tanaka a while back (after looking at the chart for how to advance) and told his Sensei that he would like the opportunity to lead.  In particular he led a class on the Saturday before he received his green belt and so impressed his Sensei that he decided Bentley should definitely be a green belt.  The phone rang 10 minutes into class while Bentley was leading warmups, and Tanaka went to answer.  Upon completion of the phone call the Sensei noticed Bentley was doing an awesome job and decided to just stay in his office/observe/see how long Bentley could continue without his help.  Bentley did the whole class, and according to his Sensei did an awesome job with it!

Jake is working on leading classes and developing the assertive nature that you ned to do a good job with that.  It will come with more practice and age, and soon I'll have two green belts!  For now?  We are, of course, super proud of how hard Bentley has worked and how far he's come since starting karate just about a year ago!  He's very focused and determined and it shows.