Becoming a black belt at our club is no easy task as everyone from our wall of black belts can attest to. It takes years of hard work, dedication, humility, respect and of course a lot of sweat! Recently we had a young lad take the challenge on and it’s fair to say that he definetly sweat buckets!
Unlike gradings for colored or brown belts Alex stood alone on the mat for his grading while Sensei Lydia watched every thing he did. Every technique, every combinaion and every kata he preformed was scored out of 10 with Alex needing an average of 9 out of 10 to recieve what we call a First Class Pass. This is not an easy task as even the slghtest hesitation or the slightest missed step can cause a loss of marks, even something as simple as missing a single kiai or a slight bend on your back leg (something I myslef am guilty of at times).
To recieve his marks Alex had to perform every technique he has been taught since white belt, perform all 10 combinations, Tenshins, all 30 katas required for 1st Dan as well as an understanding of bunkai (kata application), Japanese knowledge and Partner work. Grading on his own he had very little breaks in between. Speaking from experience he did not just do everything once or twice. In fact knowing Sensei Lydia he will have preformed each at least 3 or 4 times as a minimum.
Then we get to the spirit part of a Black Belt grading and this is where we find out how much the belt is wanted by the student. As a minimum Alex did 300 round kicks and 200 punches on the bags, although lydia has been known to misscount (definately not on purpose!) on a black belt grading so I would add at least anther 100 to those numbers which he did without question. These were then followed by 10 x 30 second rounds of sparing against fresh oppenents between which he was given no breaks and added burpees..
After all that it’s safe to say that he was crawling out of the dojo.
As Most of you may have seen Alex absolutley smashed his black belt grading with no scores bellow a 9 out of 10 earning him a First Class Pass. Well Done Alex! Your hard work over the last five years has paid off and you definetly earned that belt.
Some of you may be thinking is this the end of the road? Once you get black belt is that it? Well I can assure you that Alex will keep training with us as he still has more to learn as we all do. After all there is still the matter of 2nd Dan and beyond for him to train for.
Although I wasn’t able to attend Alex’s black belt grading, (The perks of a retail job at Christmas) I was present for his Ninangeki’s (Partner work with 2 attackers). Me and Harry (someone who has done his own black belt gradings) put him through his paces on the Thursday before and if he worked as hard on the Grading as he did that day then I am not shocked with the outcome.
Welcome to the Black Belt club Alex!
Liam Cooper (Instructor)
