What a good term it has been with so many people getting their grades!! In the Junior section, we had 14 members getting their Junior red belts. Well done!! You all made far more progress than I expected, keep it up!! And to all you who didn’t make their grades this term; keep practising – you will get there. A lot of badges were awarded this term as well, and its nice to see so many of you getting quite a collection on your arms. There are 77 badges to work for in all, so I can assure you that you won’t run out of things to get good at!!

There are three questions that I have been asked a lot this term by Juniors and they are:

1) What is a Junior red belt? 2) When do we start sparring? 3) What does the Japanese text on the grading certificates say?

1) Junior red belts are awarded to juniors who have completed the red belt syllabus to the required standard. Although Juniors and Seniors follow the same grading syllabus, the standard required for a senior to pass is significantly higher. When a junior becomes old enough to become a senior, he/she must re-take the grade that they are wearing and pass it to the senior standard. This is normally not a problem.

2) We normally start sparring after orange belt. To spar safely, each student must have high standard of control, both mentally and physically. Also, I am a firm believer that it is quite pointless to start sparring until you have the “tools” to do so. For Juniors, this takes about 12-18 months after red belt has been achieved and for Seniors, it takes about 6-12 months after red.

3) The Japanese text on the grading certificates translates to; “This is to certify that the bearer of this diploma has been examined and was found worthy of the rank entered. A period of study has been undertaken and sufficient progress in Karate-do has been made both mentally and physically.”

Congratulations to all the seniors who got their 8^th Kyu yellow belts and to Bisha who got his 9^th Kyu Red belt. All the grades were achieved with a particularly high standard and you can all be very proud of yourselves. Don’t despair those who missed out this time round, your turn will come! Every member must be aware that some people will rise through the grades faster than others. This is due to the fact that some people have more natural ability to learn faster than others, some may have more time to practice than others. Mostly, though, it is a reflection of how much work you put in, and like most things, what you get out of Karate is directly proportional to how much and how hard you practice. This is not a race though; there are no extra prizes for those who come first; the rewards are the same for all that get there!! As you rise through the grades you will find that fewer and fewer people will take their grades at the same time, the important thing is that you all work as hard as you can, but at your own pace!!!!!!

One of our students in Sweden, Micke Schneider, has just been awarded his black belt. He started training with us in 1993 and we graded him to 1^st Kyu brown belt just before we left Sweden in November 1996. He is the 5^th student of Helena and I to reach their 1^st Dan Black belt and we are very proud and happy for him. We are hoping to get all of our black belt students to come over to NZ to visit our club and train with us in February 2000.

The dates for the next term are: 20^th July 1998 – 23^rd September 1998. The fees will remain the same; $80 for Seniors and $50 for Juniors + $2 per badge achieved. Please, if at all possible, pay the fees before the start of next term. This saves us a lot of time and is greatly appreciated. Either send us a cheque, or pay by Visa, MasterCard or American Express, either by filling out the form below or ringing us with your credit card details.

An individual invoice accompanies this newsletter. If there are any Junior members planning not to train next term, let us know so that we can allow someone from our waiting list to start. Also for those who are not coming back: please pay for the badges you have achieved.

Have a nice break and see you next term.