Wow!

Last night we held our November Grading. We had 16 people grading; from yellow up to brown with two stripes. And I have to say...I was very nervous. And judging by the level of energy in the club from about 5:30 to 6pm, I would say I was not the only one. You could feel, without a doubt, the nervousness, anticipation and excitement.

Working with almost every student individually over the last month, I was pretty much positive that I knew what they would do well at and where their weaknesses were. But last night I was blown away. When the grading started at 6pm and the drills were being called hard and fast, everyone moved as one. The concentration and focus were clearly visible. We could see their hard work and preparation paying off.

Going through a grading takes courage. It is definitely a nerve-wracking experience. It's never easy to get up in front of everyone and have your skills and knowledge put to the test. Not to mention that the Senseis, who are normally so free with their words of encouragement and smiles, are up at the front with serious expressions and clipboards with grading papers, watching your every move. We know how hard gradings are. We've all been through them. And we also know, that unless we push you until you start to push back, you will never feel as though you truly earned your belt. That feeling of accomplishment will not come unless you know in your heart that you did your best. It's our job to help you do that.

It was a long and intense grading and we were pleased to see that everyone was up to the challenge. There were no belts or stripes simply just handed out last night, they were all earned. Everyone should feel extremely proud of themselves today as we are all very proud of you! We can't wait to see all of the new colours out on the floor.

A quote that I always felt was especially applicable to gradings says "Do it trembling if you must, but do it." We might have seen a little bit of trembling last night, but you guys definitely did it. Good job!

Almost Ready!

Our November grading is coming up and after last night's classes I am thrilled to say that everyone is very prepared and looking really good! We started doing individual pretests about a month ago to get a feel for where everyone was in their training. It was very important to us that people not only have their time in (and required number of classes) but they know their stuff as well. And there is a lot they need to know.
We've adapted our belt requirements to include breakfalls, takedowns, throws, knowledge and bunkai. It is a lot more to ask, but we feel sure that by including these techniques into our gradings we will be helping people to become better martial artists.
So...the pretests. We pretested people a month ago to find out what they knew and what they still needed to work on. We've spent the last month incorporating techniques into classes that aren't done often enough (so our pretests told us) and we pretested all of our grading candidates again last night. The students blew us away! They were so eager to show how much more they knew that they were almost shaking. I'm sure they have been working on their list of requirements at home as well, their preparation is very obvious. We are very proud of them and we are sure that next week's grading (which Sensei Mark has assured everyone numerous times will NOT be a cakewalk) will be awesome. We hope everyone comes out and pours their heart and sweat into the grading and we will be even more proud when we get to tie new belts on everyone! Good luck next week to: Eldon, James, Michaella, Nicholas, Rachel, Cassie, Eric, Ben, Korry, Jonathon and Oliver!

Busy, Busy, Busy!

I have to admit, October got a little crazy. We had a ton of stuff planned and with the exception of Saunders Farm getting cancelled (darn rain!) everything went off without a hitch. We had so much fun and we are looking forward to another month of hard training and hard playing as well.

To recap: We started off the month on a great training note with Guest Instructors Sensei Steve and Sensei Cam McLellan. We followed that up on October fourth with an incredible first night of PDMA Ball Hockey which led to two more ball hockey nights before we decided last night to call it a season.

We started both of our Demo Teams this month to a fantastic turnout with a lot of enthusiasm. Both the adult and youth Demo Team have something they can already present, with excellent music. Creating demos and learning them turned out to be so much fun. It's hard to put on those serious fighting faces when you are straining not to laugh out loud.

Sensei Niki Greenstreet's class on October 15th was awesome, the kids will love to have her back. It's not too often we can get her, though, as her students are reluctant to have her leave them for a night!

Sensei Bruce, Sensei Mark and I went to Sharbot Lake on October 26th for Sensei Greenstreet's Sandan grading. Sensei's sister, Michelle Greenstreet, was also grading - for Shodan. The grading went very well and we were honoured to have been invited. Sensei Mark, especially, as he was used as Sensei Niki's uke. Now the Sharbot Lake Karate Club boasts TWO Sensei Greenstreets!

We ended the month on a fantastic note with our Haunted Dojo on October 29th. Almost everyone came in costume (which were amazing - you guys never let us down!) and we did a kali stick class. After which, the kalis were used to destroy a pinata. Apparently all of the karate training has made our students into very strong and very accurate strikers as the pinanta lasted only one round through the lineup. Great job guys!

So, as we take a quick look at our November calender, we can see there are more fun things planned. Already we have some excellent classes planned, a Grading on November 19th, lots of specialty classes, Martial Quest on November 22, Sensei Ted Theelen as a guest instructor on November 26th and Sensei Rebekah's Nidan Grading at the end of the month.

Thanks so much for all of the amazing support everyone has shown over the course of our first month. It's going to keep getting better and better!