Orange Belts; The Color of Dusk
As the first rays of the yellow sun begin to grow longer, dusk settles in the form of the orange belt. The dusk orange is a great way to think about the transitional nature of this belt as it acts a bridge between inexperience and mastery. Orange symbolizes the first beginnings of a grounded understanding of martial arts and is often associated with fire. As with every rank, there are new and exciting skills and forms to learn but it is usually at this point that our students have become more experienced and therefore learn these new things much more quickly. With the help of our devoted team, our orange belt students learn to greet these new challenges with a curious and excited passion, enjoying the increasing skill level of each rank. While there is no new Korean to learn for this belt rank, the forms and board breaking technique are now growing in difficulty so we make sure to pay close attention to their progress in this rank. For our Orange Belts we teach them Sam Jang and for our High Orange Belts
The Orange Belt Form; Taegeuk Sam Jang: "Fire"
As mentioned in the introductory paragraph, the Orange belt is associated with fire, one of the most obvious reasons (apart from the color) is due to the taegeuk form assigned to the belt; Taegeuk Sam Jang. Sam Jang is the first form to include more combinations of different techniques and can be frustrating to learn because of that, but the diagram and video should provide a helpful guide for your student, and as always you can use the contact us page for further help or questions.
The main new techniques introduced are:
- Back Stance
- Knifehand Block
- Knifehand strike
Orange Belt Board Breaking Technique; The Push Kick
The push kick is one of the most versatile beginner kicks that our young students can learn. If applied carefully and skillfully, a push kick uses the ball of the foot and the in-step to create a powerful pushing motion. In the video to the right of this paragraph is a great demonstration and explanation of this kick done correctly. Keep in mind that with all the very many different kinds of martial arts out there that this kick can have different names but for the sake of ease for our students we refer to it as simply the push kick but it can also be known as the front kick.
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The High Orange Belt
The High Orange Belt Form; Taegeuk Sa Jang "Thunder"
The thunderous power of the Sa Jang form is a really exciting challenge for our students due to the complex nature of the techniques and directions used. There are also new techniques to learn for the form which makes it a daunting but fun to practice and learn.
The new techniques introduced in this form include:
- Double Knifehand Block
- Spearhand Thrust strike
- Swallowform Knifehand Strike
- Back Kick (aka Side Kick)
- Backfist Strike
High Orange Belt Board Breaking Technique; The Back Kick
From the name, one can gather its similarity to the Front Kick but the Back Kick does differ in some important ways; where the front kick applies force via the ball of the foot, the back kick uses the heel and exerts force from a different orientation. The video to the right explains in more detail how this kick is done correctly.
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Testing Summaries
This section provides a concise list of the new techniques that each student should prepare for their next testing date.
Orange Belts
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High Orange Belts
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