Karatekas rise to the challenge with an impressive display At Grading
Impressing their instructors with a top showing during todays grading.
In the week leading up to todays karate grading karatekas have been displaying an improved level of focus and keenness to fine tune their skills, which you would expect in the lead up to a grading, but this time was different, it was like some were really determined to prove not just to their instructor but to themselves that they are good enough and they can do this. For some the disappointment of missing out last time was a painful reminder that they didn’t want to experience again.
The grading started on the Friday night where karatekas had the opportunity to display their katas. This began well and the lower grade katas were done to a good standard, then things started to go wrong. The pressure started to toll on the higher grades as not only did they have their fellow peers watching their every move along with the examiners, but they also had to call random katas, a daunting task especially if you are not used to doing it and one that has seen black belts crumble in the past.
The next morning the full grading began, with students from Sennen and Marazion in attendance. As usual the grading consisted of karatekas displaying a range of techniques based on their grade, with marks being given based on their standard in relation to their current grade.
The first half of the grading focused on the basics, something which is so important and can lead to a difficult grading if the higher grades get badly wrong. Thankfully this wasn’t the case and all students managed to navigate through the basics without too many issues. The students were tested on how they dealt with an attack for their examiner, this was a great way to see how good their reaction times were, their movement, control and balance.
Next we moved on to pad work looking at how strong and fast karatekas strikes were, we looked a several techniques with the pads held by the examiners. Once this was completed we again looked at karatekas movement, balance and control by getting them to step across the hall doing various techniques into thin air. The grading finished with paired up activities, sparring for the higher grades and reaction practise for the lower grades.
After 150 minutes the grading came to an end, and it was time to discuss the results. This year the marking process was slightly different with karatekas being assessed across 8 different categories, basics, paired up, spirit and attitude, kata, balance and posture, power and speed, etiquette and behaviour, performance in class. with a maximum score of 100 up for grabs across the 8 categories.
After tallying up the scores and discussing the performance if was clear to see that everyone had done a great job and really impressed with the standard throughout the morning with the average score of 76 / 100 which is fantastic. Students were called in 1 at a time to find out their results and to receive feedback on where they lost points and how they can improve.
The Results
New Belts Were Awarded To:
- Ellie Beckwith – Yellow Belt
- Wyatt Tully – Yellow Belt
- William Clark – Yellow Belt
- Willow Quinn- Swain – Yellow Belt + 2 Tags
- Alice Lidiard – Green Belt +1 Tag
- Caitlin Carroll – Green Belt
- Tumaini Jelbert – Green Belt
- Ayla Payne – Blue Belt
Tags Were Awarded To:
- Luca Edwards – 2 Yellow Tags
- Herbie Weller – 1 Yellow Tag
- Ben Cartland – 1 Orange Tag
- Morris Curnow – 1 Orange Tag
- Sophie Cartland – 2 Orange Tags
- Velvet Weller – 2 Green Tags
- James Lidiard – 1 Blue Tag
- Lucas Carroll – 1 Blue Tag
- Daisy Clemens-Wall – 1 Brown Tag
- Ethan Callaghan – 2 Brown Tags
- Eva Pounder – 1 Brown Tag
A huge well done to all students, you should all be super proud of yourselves you did fantastically well. A special mention must go to Willow Quinn-Swain who almost did the unthinkable and very nearly jumped a grade and narrowly missed out on going from White straight to Orange after impressing with a standout performance.
As always there will be some who will be disappointed with the outcome but you shouldn’t be, your instructors couldn’t be prouder of your performance today. Sadly not everyone gets a new belt each time and there are lots of factors which determine the outcome, not everyone will agree with the outcome but that’s life. Enjoy your success and we look forward to seeing you in class next week!!
A big thanks to Finn, Sam and Denzil for their help today, i simply couldn’t of done it without you!!