rylie’s martial arts advancements – yellow, green & blue belt

When Rylie turned four, we asked her friends / family to gift her money so we would put towards martial arts classes. She was really into Avatar, The Last Airbender and we thought she would enjoy giving martial arts a try. Sure enough, she fell in love with it and has been going multiple times a week since December 2020.

In April 2021, Rylie had her first testing experience.

Every quarter, the students have an opportunity to showcase their skills and receive the next level belt color, showing that they’ve mastered certain skills.

In addition to a series of challenges and an obstacle course, Rylie had to break a wooden board with her foot. Where I was extremely nervous this would keep her from ranking up (breaking boards practice in class didn’t go super well for her), she did phenomena and got her first color – YELLOW!

Her excitement level was past 100 when she was reliving breaking the board. “MOMMY! I DID IT! I BROKE THE BAORD!!!!” was on repeat all evening 🙂

she’s known for being welcoming, knowing all the kids names, saying “yes sir” really loudly (which they love) & giving mom thumbs up during class 😂
also, she a YELLOW belt now 💛

Her next testing was in June 2021, and this time she had to break a wooden board with her hand. It took several attempts, but she eventually broke it and received her next belt – GREEN!

she’s been working so hard for this! Rylie Annalise – you wear that green belt proudly! 💚

This last week, Rylie had her third testing experience (August 2021). This time, the stakes were raised as she had to break two boards – one with her foot and one with her hand – to receive her next belt color.

Although they didn’t break on the first hit, Rylie was persistent and eventually broke both of them. Earning her next belt – BLUE!

she said blue is her favorite color, so she’s extra excited about this one 💙
Rylie ran up to me afterwards, gave me a big hug and said, “I love you mama! Thank you for bringing me here!” … her instructor may have told all the kids to say that to their parents, but it still meant a lot 🥰
proud of you for doing your best, Rylie!

Martial Arts has become something our whole family is invested in, and we absolutely love watching our girl succeed and grow. She loves her instructors, her friends / fellow students and the art itself.

You can watch each of Rylie’s testing videos on this week’s episode.