We’ve just finished our last grading of the year with a successful weekend of Karate and Judo gradings. This December grading was also our only Black Belt grading for the year, so the pressure was on for several candidates.We don’t pass people for gradings of any discipline, unless they’;ve clearly proved that they are worth it on the day. Mind, skills and body in harmony, always. Does that sound familiar? https://basingstokekarate.com/what-does-shin-gi-tai-mean
It does mean that sometimes we get some disappointment when either they don’t pass or get a grade lower than hoped for. That is and always has been part of the journey as a Martial Artist that we all take. The wins, the losses, the gains, the failures, the changes we have to make to evolve as a Martial Artist, regardless of our level of experience or skill. All of these things go to make up our personal Martial Arts DNA.Our gradings this year went from our 6-9 year olds https://basingstokekarate.com/childrens-martial-arts-classes/kids-martial-arts-6-9-yrs/
at the Weekend, to 10 – 14 year olds https://basingstokekarate.com/childrens-martial-arts-classes/martial-arts-for-10-14-yrs/ finishing with the Adults https://basingstokekarate.com/adult-martial-arts-class/
Each group were tested on things from our age specific programmes to test their skills and knowledge.
The following people merited a highly commended pass;- Mia Corbett and Daniel Lynch from the first session. Max Wiggins and Jessica Bellsham in the second. Enzo Cerroni and Jake Stanley in the third and in the final session for the Urban Warriors and Adults Jack Wyatt and Kienan Dolan. Grażyna Zwierzyńska was the only person over the course of the weekend who doubled graded, she went from Yellow belt to Purple, well done.
We also have been over the past month conducting a Judo grading for the Monday class and were pleased for many of them to achieve new belts, Special mention here to club coaches Katherine White and Mark van Meerkerk who along with Gavin Downey passed their 1st Kyu Brown Belt in Judo.
A special mention must go to Rebecca Halil and Leyna Jones who both passed their 1st Dan Black Belts after a rigorous test following many years of dedicated learning. Both girls have been training with us for a very long time and have been training a minimum of 4 times a week in their quest for their Black Belts. Finally Mark van Meerkerk passed his 2nd Dan Belt after his grading week culminating in teaching 4 classes over different ages and abilities prior to his physical grading.Well done everyone, congratulations on the new belts.
