Crash Test Dummy

The loving husband has been taking Hapkido classes for the past two years. Later this month he will be testing for his black belt. Because the instructor lives in another state and only holds classes a few times a month, he has been faithfully driving up to Brookings for a 1 or 2 hour session, depending on the day. Friday nights are combo Tae Kwan Do and Hapkido nights and Saturday mornings are Hapkido.

I mention this because for the past 2 years, I have been playing the part of the opponent for the loving husband to practice on....AKA crash test dummy. Now before anyone gets the wrong idea, he has an incredible amount of control so even though it hurts, I do not get hurt.

As the loyal crash test dummy, it is my job to "attack" the loving husband so that he can practice his techniques. Some of the moves require the attacker have advance knowledge and proficiency of falling, landing, and flipping correctly. Because I do not have said proficiency, he is careful to either do the technique at half speed or stop before the opponent (me) is thrown or swept to the ground. I do have one not so found memory of the loving husband practicing a technique that involved a sweep/body slam and he didn't quite do it correctly and yours truly went head first on the floor.

Anyway, other than that one mistake, it hasn't been so bad. Since I have been his practice partner and training companion for several years, he is much more familiar with how much force or pressure he can use. It also helps that we like each other so there is a lot of laughter involved. I get a kick out of the nicknames for some of these techniques. A few would be, Backfist Colonel Sanders, Psycho Chiropractor, Pretzel, Mary Jane, Filipino Handcuffs, Butterflies, Faucet. All innocent sounding names for vicious painful moves.

I also have gained a new appreciation for these skills as they are very difficult to do correctly without causing injury. I truly have to trust the loving husband not to hurt me and he has to be comfortable with me to do the techniques correctly without fear of hurting me.

As he gets closer to testing, I am needed more and more. I don't mind the occasional bruise or sore body part though. I'm just happy to help out. I know in a few weeks he will be doing all this stuff for real and I couldn't be prouder.

Go Sweetie Pie!!