Do you remember your first black belt grading? Perhaps it was a long time ago for you or perhaps it was quite recent. Either way this post may bring back some memories because I have just graded for shodan in karate and I’m now the proud lady owner of a black belt!
Here’s my black belt grading story……
We woke up at 6.00am on Sunday 12th June 2011 to a gloriously sunny day and looked forward to a pleasant drive across the Pennines to the SKK Judo centre in Newton-le-Willows where the grading was to take place. By the time we got there an hour and a half later it was pouring with rain and stayed that way the rest of the day!
I have been preparing for this grading for, well four years in total, but a good six months of pretty intense training. I have worked on my fitness, strength, flexibility, endurance as well as my black belt syllabus. I have had to deal with injuries and endure a ‘deep tissue’ sports massage on my quads -ouch! Definitely not for the faint hearted. I have had set backs, particularly at the pre-dan grading course, where I seriously doubted my ability to pass. However, after much support and encouragement from instructors and some serious introspection and positive self-talk I got myself back on track.
My negative pre-dan grading experience had taught me that I had made the mistake of putting the ‘black belt’ grading on a grand high pedestal where it didn’t really belong. Once I’d knocked it off its pedestal and realised this was just another grading a lot of the stress melted away. Having got my sense of perspective back I cut back on some of the additional training I had been doing. I think I was overtraining a bit and getting tired and a little exhausted, this is probably why I was becoming injury prone.
We were expected to be on the mats by 10.00am to receive instructions on how the day would proceed and to warm up and have some practice time. The grading actually started at 10.30. Nineteen of us were grading, 17 for shodan and 2 for nidan, from various clubs within the SSK. This is a much larger cohort than usual so I was a bit worried how they were going to manage us all logistically – I had a feeling it was going to be a long, tiring day.
It turned out that the day was organised with military precision. We had 15 sections to get through, some of which could be done in groups but others needed to be graded individually. The first four sections were all kihon combinations – 6 punching, 6 kicking, 1 stance combination and 1 combination set on the day. These sections are designed to test fitness and endurance as well as correct technique so each combination is repeated several times on both the left and right side. We did this in rows of 6 or 7 people and it took about 1¼ hours to complete these sections. I made one major blunder during the stance combination – I stepped left into shiko dachi instead of right. Obviously it stuck out like a sore thumb in the lineout!
Next came the kata/bunkai sections. We each had to perform 3 kata and demonstrate bunkai from each. These sections were tested individually, which meant 57 individual kata performances each with 3 bunkai demonstrations – that sounded like it was going to take a long, long time! However, we were split into two groups and one group (my group) were sent out to take an hour lunch break whilst the other group graded. I was glad to be in the group taking the break first as I needed to re-fuel and re-hydrate myself after the kihon sections.
The atmosphere in the waiting area was very upbeat. People seemed fairly relaxed and confident about what they were doing and there was a lot of camaraderie between people. It was almost starting to be enjoyable!
For me the kata demonstrations were the most nerve wracking part of the grading. Good kata performance is very exacting – the slightest mistakes will be noticed and marked down. Technique, timing and intent are all important to the kata performance. This is followed immediately with a bunkai demonstration. This is the section where you need to show that there is substance behind the form. The applications chosen should be to a single attack, which must be delivered realistically, and the defence should shut down the attack completely.
With the kihon and kata sections over, we were about half way through the grading. Next up was pad work, this is always guaranteed to get you hot, sweaty and out of breath again! After a quick drink break it was time for ippon kumite (one step sparring) and goshin waza (self-defence techniques). These were graded individually with partners. These sections generally went well for me; they usually are my strongest sections. However, I did make a mistake and ended up repeating the same ippon technique twice to different attacks; of course the sharp eyed judges noticed!
We were then onto demonstrating a floor drill (ground fighting) and a breakfalling drill. Finally we got to the last two sections – sparring. First up was jiyu kumite (free sparring) where we just do light continuous sparring with a partner to demonstrate a range of punches and kicks. Then we had a round of shiai kumite (competition sparring). I was drawn against a 15 year old girl who was testing for 2nd dan. Despite her tender years she was far more experienced in sparring than me and her youth gave her a speed and agility that I no longer possess. However I wasn’t going to make it easy for her.
According to onlookers I held her off pretty well and didn’t give her many openings. I managed to score a half point with a reverse punch but then made the fatal mistake of delivering a round house kick to her head. She deftly caught my foot, spun me around and punched me in the back to score a full ippon. She won the round but it didn’t matter, the grading was over.
It was now 5.30pm, a full seven hours of grading. After the judges deliberations we were lined back up to receive our scores. Seventeen of us passed, sadly two did not.
I was worried that it would feel like an anti-climax, that I’d be too exhausted to enjoy my success. But it wasn’t – I found it an amazing feeling to be finally wearing my black belt. It represents years of continuous dedication and training. I’m still on a high days later but no doubt my feet will soon land on the ground and the next leg of my martial arts journey will begin…..
Sue is the Blog-Editor-In-Chief for Martial News. You can contact her at martialnews.blogs@gmail.com Sue also writes a personal blog called My Journey to Black Belt
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