Another Day of Training

If testing is just another day of training, how come we give out sashes at the end?  Why all the formality?  Why not just give rank to students when they’ve earned it?

There are many answers (all colored by the fact that I enjoy the ritual of testing) but the one that rests on my mind the most right now is the sense of system community gained from the event.  At today’s test we had three schools coming together.

This means all the testers and the helpers got to train with people they don’t normally train with.  It means the teachers who put students up for testing got feedback about their students from a board of multiple black belts.

Here’s to a wonderful night of community building and hard work.  I’d like to thank all the testers for putting themselves out there and giving the board an opportunity to watch them move.  As always, it’s an honor.
Go check out a photo set of the action here.