Cornish MayoShinDo Karate Students Impress National Coach at Grading
After a bumpy start students relaxed, gained confidence and let their ability shine through.
Our annual Autumn Cornwall Karate grading took place today at the usual venue at Sennen Community Centre. We were very lucky to of been joined by two very special guests from Oxford, Elaine Jaycock an 8th Dan Black Belt and Deputy Head of Style, and John George a 2nd Dan Black Belt. They were joined by Cornwall Area Head Coach and 7th Dan Black Belt Clive Double and were responsible for running the grading and deciding the fait of the students today.
Today’s grading was also a special grading as it was also a Black Belt Grading. The first one we have held for several years. The grading started on Friday evening, where the higher graded students had a 2 hour examination to endure. This was not something that was unusual as most often train for 2-3 hours each week but if they thought it was going to be like a training session they quickly found out this was much, much different to anything they had experienced before.
Under the careful eye of the 3 examiners students were asked to demonstrate a series of techniques from their syllabus. There were several mistakes being made which Elaine emphasised wasn’t good enough and everyone needed to sharpen up. It was this moment everyone knew this was not going to be easy, and neither should it be. Gradings especially Black Belt gradings are expected to be tough going, forcing students to dig deep and show just how much they want to progress to the next grade.
Thankfully everyone made it through and it was on to the next morning where the grading resumed. All students attended the morning grading with the higher graded students still looking a little nervous after their experience the night before. The morning saw the group split into two with the lower grades on one side of the mats and the higher grades on the other. Throughout the morning most if not all of the lower graded syllabuses have been covered and it was time to stop for a quick break and refreshments.
By now the higher graded student had relaxed and were showing a good standard, lots of effort and a good level of focus. During the short break the lower grades would learn their fate as their grading was now over, whilst the higher grades had to complete a written test and still had a further 2 hour exam to complete.
The grading resumed, this time with only the higher graded students in attendance, with some more advanced techniques being displayed, again under the watchful eyes of Elaine, Clive and John. After a further gruelling two hours (6.5 in total) the grading ended and the students could finally relax and await their results.
The Results
The following students were awarded new belts:
Orange Belt
Sam Beckwith, Sophie Cartland, Willow Quinn-Swain, Ben Cartland, Ellie Beckwith
Blue Belt
Lucas Carroll, Tumaini Jelbert
Brown Belt Belt
Mabel Cheyne, Evan Pounder, Ayla Payne, Daisy Clemens-Wall, Ethan Callaghan
The following students were awarded tags:
1 Tag
- Luca Edwards (W3), Sky Cox (W3), Alice (G2), James (G2)
2 Tags
- Theo Payne (Y3)
3 Tags
- Rupert Quinn-Swain (W3)
A huge well done to all students who not only impressed our visitors from Oxford but you did yourself and your club proud. Keep it up, some of you are now very close to attempting your black belt grading which is fantastic… hopefully this experience will set you in good stead for when that opportunity presents itself. Keep working hard.
A big thanks to Elaine and John for making the trip down from Oxford and assessing our students, it was great to see you both and we look forward to seeing you and your students in the near future. Also thanks to Clive and Denzil for being on hand to help.