Once
again our February grading was looking to be a mammoth event.
The
day started promptly at 10am with Sensei Scott taking the junior karateka,
Sensei Alan Campbell soon joined us and between them they conducted training
for over 160 karateka, and gradings for over 110!
Sensei
Mike managed to surprise Sensei Alan by making a £500 donation to the JKS
England squad fund from the proceeds of these grading courses. This was very
warmly received and will be put to good use to help the squad compete at the
World Championships in Japan this year.
Oliver
(W) was the first member of our club to grade. Oliver has been waiting for this
opportunity and put in a convincing performance to come away with his 10 kyu.
Katherine was up next, and despite looking a little nervous beforehand soon
settled down and collected her 9th kyu.
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Lisa
was the first of the Gowland family to face the examiner, and after being
selected as Sensei Scott's demonstrating partner for some of the earlier
exercises didn't disappoint to collect her 8th kyu - just one more grading and
you can exchange your red belt for a nice new yellow one! Which is exactly what
her daughter Rebecca did! Rebecca and Kian both put in strong performances to
gain the next grade - well done to both of you.
Scott
was our only green belt grading (indeed the only one in the club!) and he was
very focused on his goal of exchanging it for a purple one - which is exactly
what he did! Well done Scott!
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Haxby
provided the majority of the purple belts that were grading with seven of the
ten belonging to our club. Alex (S), Fraser, Robert, Jemimah, Rachel, Bailey
and Dougie all put themselves forward for grading. The results were mixed with
Alex, Jemimah, and Rachel achieving Temporary 4th kyu, and Fraser, Robert
(managing to remain several grades ahead of his mum and sister!), Bailey, and
Dougie all achieving full 4th kyu. There are some technical issues that we need
to work on with our purple belts, but try not to let the result dishearten you.
There are five possible results from a grading - 1) you are reduced in grade if
the examiner thinks you do now show the correct level of ability for your
current grade, 2) you fail the grading and have to remain at your current
grade, 3) you are judged not to have quiet reached the standard necessary to
achieve the next grade so are given a temporary higher grade to be confirmed at
the next grading, 4) you are awarded the next grade, 5) you are awarded a
double (or rarely triple grade) but this is very rare after 8th kyu. Click here to go to the excellent article from Sensei
Paul on grading results. Special mention must go to Dougie who not only
confirmed his temporary grade of 5th kyu, but also graded to full 4th kyu, and
equivalent of a full grade and a half!
There
was one final purple belt from Haxby to grade. Bethany was attempting to move
up from 4th kyu to 3rd kyu. She was very nervous going into the grading and was
rather dwarfed by the other karateka in her section. However she dug deep and
pulled out a determined performance to gain her Brown belt. The jump to brown
belt is always a challenge as the expected standard rises greatly. So new 4th
kyus take warning - the next grading is only just 3 months away and there is a
lot of work to be done to get you ready! You need focus and commitment if you
are to be considered for your brown belt in the summer.
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Now
it was onto our existing brown belts. Oli, Elizabeth, Lee, Thomas (F) and Dael
were all trying for 1st kyu. The boys all successfully graded to full 1st kyu,
with Elizabeth being awarded a temporary grade. Congratulations to you all! The
standard that is expected of you at this level is very high, and you all did
yourself proud. However, if the purples have a lot of work to do before their
next grading that is nothing compared to the amount of work you have before
you. The standard expected of a Shodan is several levels about that expected of
a brown belt but with the training and support from your instructors you will
get there. Don't forget that Sensei Alan expects to see you all at the regular
black and brown belt courses, especially if you are thinking of trying for your
Shodan anytime soon. This is essential not only for Sensei Alan to judge when
you might be ready to attempt the grading, but primarily for the extra
instruction you will get and the experience of training with so many talented
Dan grades.
There
was one final member of the club going in front of the examiners. Pete was
retaking the Kumite section of his Shodan grading. Unfortunately this time it
was not to be, but he has the opportunity to retake this section at a black and
brown belt course in three months time.
All
in all it was a mixed grading for the club. Some came away a little
disappointed in their performance, some very happy. I think how you deal with
disappointment says more about your character than how you deal with success.
So hopefully we will see everyone down at the dojo, training hard to carry on
with their karate journey.
We
would like to thank Sensei Alan and Sensei Scott for their excellent
instruction, and of course Sensei Paul, we are very lucky that we have Sensei
Paul on hand to organise these gradings and ensure that they run so smoothly.
For more photos of the grading see the photos page of our website.
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