Spring 2026 Black Belt Cycle

Candidate Journals

King Tiger Tae Kwon Do Black Belt candidates blog daily about their journey: their thoughts and feelings, their struggles and successes; their pain and their encouragement. Follow along on their journey; words of encouragement are always welcome!

01/20/26

It was really hard to get up this morning at five am. I did my requirements in the morning, and saved some for later. I got through school, and it felt so long. I came home at around 3:20 pm, so I got half of my homework done. I then went to taekwondo to help out with class and do punches and kicks at the front. After class I got a mentee session done and headed home to get the rest of my homework done. 

  11 Hits

01/19/26

I'm so happy that we had a long weekend because I needed the extra time to sleep. I woke up at 10 am today and got my requirements done. I then did studying for my events for science olympiad. After I watched some tv and read a book and got 5 miles done. I straightened my hair today.

  19 Hits

01/18/26

I woke up this morning with a runny nose because of the cold. My requirements were pretty hard to get through today, but I managed. I read for a bit, and studied, and am going to do my mile on on my stationary bike, since its cold outside.

  29 Hits

01/17/26

Today I woke up early and went to black belt class. I got my sticks and bow staff today, I really like the color. During class I saw what I needed to work on, so I noted that down on my book. As soon as I got home I worked on those stuff. I plan to focus on my requirements and some studying today. 

  33 Hits

01/15/26

Today I woke up pretty late so I could't do my requirements in the morning. I did them later, though. I went to school and I had Spanish, English, and Science homework. I kicked out some science pretty fast and math too. After I did my spanish and I headed over for sparring. After sparring I did my english homework. I like how I divided my time today because high school is no joke, there is so much homework! But, overall, my day was pretty productive and I felt very proud once it was over. I have a presentation tomorrow so I'm going to review that and head to bed. 

  32 Hits

01/14/26

This morning I woke up at 6:10 a.m and then I got to school at 7:25 am. At school we had a normal learning/review day. In math we finally started our geometry section of the year. In PE we had to run a mile. After I had science olympiad practice, so I did that for an hour. I got forensics studying done, and now all I've got is entomology. I got back home and had a quick snack and headed on over to taekwondo. Today I took the 4:45-5:15 p.m class and then helped out with the next class. This was my very first class that I got to help out with, and it was really fun. I got to do punches and kicks at the front. 

  61 Hits

01/13/26

Today I got through school and got a lot of work done at school. After school me and a couple of my friends decided to play volleyball at the court. I'm gonna admit on the first half of the game I was actually serving really good. Until I hit the net. However, my team still ended up winning. We had a math quiz today, and I scored a 100% (go me!). When I got home me and my dad ran 1.8 miles. I got my other requirements out of the way. 

  45 Hits

01/12/26

In school we were introduced to TWO new projects due by Thursday. These shouldn't be too hard. I then went to Science Olympiad and started getting forensics done with my partner.Later in Janurary we're going to compete and try our very best at Virgina Tech! Today I had pointe and ballet, pointe is so much harder than what I thought it was. Mostly this was because of how hard the shoe is. Anyways, I did pretty good.

  54 Hits

01/11/26

I woke up very late today, around 10 am. My dad made chicken sausage and it was pretty good (I'd give it a 8/10). I then got some stuff out of the way, like my basic exercises, projects, poomsaes, self defense, and kicks. I practiced a bunch of rocks for my science class. I watched videos oversimplifing WWII ghettos for my English presentation. 

  47 Hits

01/10/26

Today I ran through my miles first thing at 6 am and then we headed over to the dojang to finish up the rest of our pretest. From there we did excersices and poomsaes. After the pretest I went and got myself a bagel from Dunkin Donnuts, it was delicious. So know what I'm going to do is some studying, practicing, and relaxing!

  52 Hits

01/08/26

I woke up this morning around 5:50 am and decided to knock out sodme excerise requirements. After that I went to school and we wrote a bunch of notes. After that I went running with my dad. I ran 2.5 miles, this is the longest I've ran all week! Later, I came home and finished up my homework. I had chicken and rice for dinner, and thats my day wrapped.

  39 Hits

01/07/26

Today was an ok day. I got school out of the way. We have a project for ELA and we have to work with partners that my teacher picks. We had MAPS testing today at my school, and we have to take math and ela in the same day. By the time I finished I was tired. After school I had science olympiad so I went there and kicked out some forensics and entomology. 

  32 Hits

01/05/2026

This morning I woke up at 5:30 a.m and did my excersies (push ups, sit ups, jump rope, and burpees), poomsaes, self defense, and then I did my running. I am sore all over, but it's all bareable, I started wearing my rubber bands, and now my teeth hurt really bad. Hopefully by tomorrow everything is set and good. As soon as I stepped outside to run I got goosebumps, but like Elsa said, "The cold never bothered me anyway!". After that I have science olympiad and then I go to point/ballet for an hour and a half.

  77 Hits

01/04/26

Today was a normal Sunday, today I woke up pretty late and decided to get some excerise done so I did that, then I went downstairs and started reading a book for a couple of hours. I practiced piano, and I'm going to do my running later. around 5 PM. During break I made brownies with my mom, so I ate one that we made. Yesterday we went to IKEA and my sister got a toy monkey and I got some room inspiration. I decided to look on Pinterest for some of them, and then study for my science olympiad tournaments. Overall, it was a productive day with some down time. 

  46 Hits

01/03/26

I attended my first black belt class of the cycle today. After I stopped by Barnes & Noble and picked up One of Us Is Lying by Karen M. McManus and Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. Should be a good read. - 01/03/26 

  51 Hits