A Special Black and Brown Belt Course

It was another early morning Sunday start for the couple of carfull’s that threaded their way south for the bi-monthly Black and Brown Belt course. Of course not everyone was simply tired, for one of us there was the prospect of retaking part of the Shodan exam.

The venue for the Black Brown Belt courses has changed to match the growing size of the JKS and the growing popularity of the course, and although it does not feel as intimate as the John Godber Centre, the Djanogly City Academy Sports Hall feels like a much more suitable venue for these important courses.

The first session was taken by Alan Sensei, and started off with a reminder that when you do karate, you should not just ‘go through the motions’ but should be concentrating and focusing from the moment the session starts. The session then moved on to various timing drills, with the key lesson that regardless of who you are partnered with (or what grade they are) a technique is either perfect, or needs improvement, and your responsibility when correcting a partner is to tell them if it less than perfect – ‘pretty good’ or ‘fairly close’ is not good enough.

The class was split for the second hour with the Dan grades and Kyu grades being separated. I didn’t see what the Kyu grades were up to as the Dan grades were (much too) quickly taken through Seipei by Douglas Sensei. This is not a kata that I have encountered before (and isn’t practiced in Shotokan Karate), and it was very interesting. Douglas Sensei’s instruction was very good and his bunkai excellent – and showed off his nearly encyclopaedic knowledge of kata. Alan Sensei took over the instruction again for the last part of the session taking us through some bunkai for Kanku Dai, which shed some light on a couple of the more obscure combinations in the kata.

For many this was the end of the training and they could get changed and head home, for others it was time to warm up before the Open Squad training. For the contingent from Haxby it was time to get nervous as the Shodan retakes were about to get underway. Despite his calm exterior Lee had been quieter than normal all day, and I think this was his way of showing his nerves.

There was only Lee and Ben Peach (from Walsall) going for their retake which allowed Alan Sensei and Glenn Sensei to really put them through their paces. They were given three Kata each to do and both young Karate-ka put in very strong performances and looked more composed than their Instructors Mike Sensei and Steve Carless Sensei.

The results were announced – Shodan Pass for both Karate-ka! Well done to Lee and Ben – Alan Sensei commented on the improvement since February (and the strength of your grip!).

Lee has impressed everyone at the club with how he has dealt with the disappointment of just missing out in February. A lot of people would not have dealt with it as well as you have – you have put your all into training, attending the club at every opportunity, training hard, and practicing yourself before and after the session. Fellow karate-ka and your instructors have been very impressed with your maturity and your determination – you very much deserve your success!

visit www.haxbykarate.co.uk to find out more about our Club. For more information email info@haxbykarate.co.uk