The entire club has really been putting in the effort to get
ready for this grading, everyone has been training hard and this really showed
on Sunday.
The day started with training for 4th Kyus and
below. We were lucky enough to have both sensei Alan Campbell (now a regular
instructor at our grading courses) and Sensei Matt Price (making his first, but
I am sure not his last, visit as our guest instructor. Having seen Sensei Matt
running the Squad Training sessions after the Black and Brown Belt courses I
knew that his instruction is excellent, but what impressed me most was how
quickly he had the junior members of all the clubs instantly engaged and
hanging off his every word and command.
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| Sydney with Sensei Matt |
After the first hour or so Sensei Matt moved to the more
senior members of the clubs whilst Sensei Alan led the gradings. Everyone put
in maximum effort to impress the examiners, and impress them they did with
Thomas and Harriet both attaining 11th Kyu, and Sydney (after being
singled out by Sensei Matt for her good Stance) passing 10th Kyu.
Richard and Lisa both did well (standing out somewhat as two of the very few
adults that were grading and training at that time) and secured 9th
Kyu, well done I always think the first grading can be the most difficult as
you don’t really know what to expect! Kian continued his pursuit of his brother
Aaron by taking 8th Kyu along with Abigail, Sam and Rebecca (who is managing to
keep one step ahead of her mum!).
Phew! The first section of the grading over and already we
had 10 successful gradings. More importantly everyone that I have spoken to since
the grading has said how much they enjoyed the training and that they have
taken a lot from the day.
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| Sam showing good form with his Yoko Geri Keage |
After a short pause and some more instruction from Sensei
Matt, this time with the higher Kyu and the Dan grades. The next group of our
young karateka were ready to face their examiners. Seven members of the club going
for purple belt and I am delighted to say that all of them were successful.
Well done to Alex, Rachel, Robert, Lauren, Bailey, Fraser and Jemimah – several
of you have other family members who train at the club and you’ll need to work
hard to make sure that they don’t start to catch you up! Bethany managed to
stay ahead of the pack by not only consolidating her temporary grade from the
last grading but also achieving a full grade to 4th Kyu.
Whilst this was going on Sensei Matt was taking the higher grades
through some excellent kumite drills and discussing his views on kumite. I
think the one that got the most agreement was that it is a lot more fun to hit
the other person than be hit by them! We finished this session with some self
defence applications that whilst being practical also proved to be very
entertaining! Sensei Alan finished off
the training with a session on Kata, firstly looking at Heian Yondan in detail
then taking us through Joko Issei, which was new to most and proved to be a
very interesting and demanding kata. I really enjoy these ‘snapshots’ of some
of the more unusual or not often practiced kata as they show us the variety and
breath of the Shotokan Style of karate.
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| Bethany and Thomas appear to be enjoying their training far too much |
With most of our club members already successfully graded
the focus now fell onto the higher grades. First up was Alex, who has recently
returned to the club after a break from training and sometime experiencing
other martial arts. I think it is no secret that Alex was very nervous going
into the grading despite the assurances of her instructors, however she really
dug deep to put in a strong performance to grade to 3rd Kyu. Well
done Alex, I am sure that your drive and determination will see you to your
Shodan.
Last up were our Brown Belts. Thomas, Oliver and Lee were all
attempting their 2nd Kyu and as this was the last group grading
there was some extra pressure as all eyes were on them. Needless to say they
all rose to the challenge and claimed their next grade. A special mention must
go to Lee who achieved this in spite of injuring his ankle earlier in the week.
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| Oli and Lee get stuck in with the kumite section of their grading |
What a day! With 90 people grading from 6 clubs thanks must
go to Sensei Paul for all the hard work he puts in behind the scenes to
organise and run these events, and to sensei Alan and Sensei Matt for their excellent
instruction. I look forward to the next grading course in February which
promises to be even bigger and will be taken by Sensei Alan Campbell and Sensei
Scott Langley.
In the meantime, back to the dojo to carry on the journey….
