I hope that you have all had a good break and that you are raring to go for the final term of the year.

Last term was a good term in terms of progress but irritating because of all the interruptions caused by the production and the fact that the stage took away so much of our available space.

I was not made aware of the scheduled production before hand and I sincerely apologise for the inconvenience caused.

Next time this happens, I will make sure that we can secure an alternative venue well in advance.

Next term is likely to be a very busy one. We hope to be grading most of you in the kid’s classes who missed out on a grading last term – so it is important that you practice hard.

We also hope to hold an adult black belt grading on Saturday the 12^th November - where we hope to grade four of our adults to 1^st Dan and one adult to 2^nd Dan. These are very special and proud events for Helena and I as instructors. Each 1^st Dan represents at least 4-years of very hard slog and 2^nd Dan represents at least 6-years of intensive training – so fingers crossed for all the hopefuls! Anybody interested in watching the grading is very welcome to do so.

Just for your interest, the general tradition in most styles of karate states that the minimum training time between gradings from 1^st – 2^nd Dan is 2-years; from 2^nd Dan – 3^rd Dan is 3-years;

from 3^rd Dan to 4^th Dan is 4-years;

from 4^th Dan to 5^th Dan is 5-years;

from 5^th Dan to 6^th Dan is 6-years;

from 6^th Dan to 7^th Dan is 7-years;

from 7^th Dan to 8^th Dan is 8-years;

from  8^th Dan to 9^th Dan is 9-years

and lastly from 9^th Dan to 10^th Dan is 10-years.

Not all karate clubs follow this tradition, especially in the USA where they tend to give away a black belt with every packet of Corn Flakes you buy. In fact, I have even heard of styles that have introduced grades up to 15^th Dan – that is rather like changing the maximum value on a stereo’s volume control from 10 to 15!! (It doesn’t mean that the stereo is louder, but it looks more impressive!)

If you do the calculations, the minimum time from beginner to 10^th Dan is 58-years of training. Given that most people who reach black belts start their karate journey as adults, it will come as little surprise that 10^th Dan is known as the grade of death – by the time you get it, you can’t have long left to live.

Helena and I are both eligible to grade again and it is one of our goals for next year to do so. Now that my health is returning to normal, it could be a great motivator to get fit again.

The other interesting news is that our instructor (Helena’s and mine) has just within the last week, immigrated to Hamilton with his family. We have yet to discuss whether Kevin will integrate into our club  - he may just want to run a high grade session now and again – we will keep you all posted.

Congratulations to the following people who graded successfully last term:

Junior Yellow Belt

·         Bronson Brightwell

·         Brooke Brightwell

·         Marangai Conrad

·         Nikhil Maharaj

·         Morgan Hopkins

·         Kelsey Waaka

Junior Orange Belt

·         Ben Smith

·         Jim Cameron

·         Jake Wilkinson

·         Sam Wilkinson

Junior Purple Belt

·         Theresa Smith

Junior 2^nd Brown Belt

·         Jelena Downey

Junior 3^rd Brown Belt

·         Sarinah Archer

1^st Kyu Brown Belt

·         Rob McGreggor

Well done all.

Because of the production, we were unable to hold a kata competition this term but the sparring competition was as exciting as ever with some really good techniques being displayed. Congratulations to the blue team who won 7-matches to 5.

The following is an article that I published on the internet about a year back – I am reproducing it here for your interest…

What is a black belt?

If used correctly, I think that the belt system is a wonderful invention. It allows instructors to break up what is a vast quantity of knowledge into manageably portions within a syllabus.

It also allows students to know and monitor their progress in relation to that syllabus at any given time and it functions remarkably well as a motivator for students to practice hard towards the next stage in their learning.

Students can also monitor other people’s progress within the club allowing them an indication of who to ask for assistance in the process of their own learning.

Problems arise however when a student starts to regard the belt as a reward or a rank.

Yes, obviously it is very rewarding to achieve a level of competence and to be regarded highly by other club members for that achievement. This, in itself, is a form of status; but in reality it is just a mark of progress.

One of the great learnings in the karate journey that can be applied to other aspects of life is the ability to divide large, daunting goals into bite-sized portions and learning to motivate yourself by anticipating the great feeling of satisfaction from progress and achievement.

A rank it is not. Rank is a term given to a status that implies delegated power over others. Clubs that see it that way can create and encourage quite unpleasant atmospheres where students regard themselves as being superior people to lower belt students.

And it is oh so common and in my opinion, clubs should actively work to remove this sort of nonsense.

Other problems also arise due to a mistaken perception that there is some sort of standardisation in awarding grades. There is none – absolutely none!

Criteria for grades differ between martial arts, styles, organisations, clubs and sometimes between instructors within a club. Criteria for grades often change over time even for the same instructor as the style; club or instructor develops and progresses him/herself.

The order and number of belts can also differ.

All this means that it is very unlikely to come across any two people who have been awarded a grade (say, an orange belt) that display any sort of uniformity in terms of quantity and quality of knowledge, level of understanding or ability to perform – even within the same club, let alone between clubs.

This makes it very difficult for an instructor to take on students that have achieved grades at other clubs. Ideally, regardless of level achieved, a person transferring clubs should really start at the beginning (white belt) in order to ensure that they gain all the required competencies determined by the new club’s syllabus as they progress through the belts.

Psychologically, this can be very difficult as that student can be justifiably proud of the reward and rank given to them by the other club in recognition of their progress and is usually very reluctant to have that mark of recognition stripped from them.

In order not to demoralise that student, an instructor will often compromise and allow the student to retain the belt until such time that they have gained sufficient knowledge to gain a higher grade – this usually takes some considerable time causing the student to feel that they are not making much progress within that club.

Had they elected to start from the beginning; the perception of progress though the belts may well have been far greater.

Kyu grades (or coloured belts) have no real meaning to people who do not train martial arts – most people have no concept of where a green belt lies on the scale in relation to black belt. The belt therefore has no real value outside the club.

This is not quite true when it comes to black belt. When it comes to the general public, the word black belt conjures up visions of indestructibility, physical and mental superiority and, strangely enough, serenity and wisdom.

Whereas it is also true that a black belt also has no real value outside the club, the very fact that you often get a “Wow!” reaction when people find out, it becomes a damned useful thing to have on your CV.

You get an automatic respect and you tend to get less hassle from bosses or fellow employees.

In reality, the impossibility of enforcing any form of standardisation in the form of a globally or nationally recognised award or qualification (as, generally, is the public perception of a black belt) means that black belts can encompass almost any range of skill-level, or lack of.

The purpose of this article therefore is to clarify (mainly for our own students) exactly what it is that Helena and I look for when assessing a 1st Dan black belt. The following, therefore, is a list of criteria that should be satisfied by a person aspiring to 1st Dan – without actually going into specific technicalities:

Physical:

Basics must be technically correct in order to optimise the power/effort ratio. This includes stance discipline and sufficient coordination to be able to control a fully powered technique to skin touch contact.

Knowledge:

Students must know and be able to perform all the kata and bunkai for the required grade to a standard that demonstrates mastery of the basics. I.e. mastery of the basics must be reflected in the kata and the bunkai.

Application:

Students must be confident enough to be able to modify those techniques to adapt and optimise them to their own physical constraints or attributes.

Discipline:

To get to this point, a student must have sufficient self-discipline to actually practise the required skills outside of the training environment.

In summary then, a black belt, for us, has reached the stage where they can survive in their martial arts journey without any further instruction. They possess all the understanding and skills necessary to continue to develop through their own research, investigation and experimentation.

Notice that no mention is made of physical fitness, strength or flexibility. Whereas these attributes would be superficially beneficial; the level of martial arts application intelligence must be of sufficient standard for the martial art to be able to survive and remain functional should any of these attributes be compromised in any individual.

In other words, intelligent defence rather that trading and absorbing blows.

Occasionally, however, we will award an honorary black belt to those that have shown outstanding perseverance and commitment but through circumstances such as age, injury or disability are unlikely to be able to fulfil all the criteria.

Second Dan and above are awarded by assessing a black belt’s progress in the journey of their own research, investigation and experimentation – we are looking for progress of efficiency and effectiveness of technique. (It is the process of turning quantity knowledge into quality knowledge).

Ideally, we would also like to see evidence that the martial artist is freely passing on their knowledge to others so that their skills don’t die with them, but, in reality, I think that it is unfair to enforce this as a compulsory criteria.

Unfortunately, there are very few people who are willing to donate their time towards the advancement of others and there are all too many that regard their skills as an opportunity for profit.

This is very short-sighted! Firstly, you miss the opportunity to immeasurably benefit the people who would want to learn from you; and secondly, teaching is an outstanding and unparalleled way of learning.

And, finally, the dates for next term are:

Wednesday 12^th October – Wednesday 14^th December.

Cheers and see you soon!