Another good grading day across the two CFTS areas with students setting a good standard.
Read on for the area reports and images of the trophy winners.
Milton Keynes Area Grading Report
As with Bedford, the grading straight after the summer holidays is sometimes a smaller affair, but we had over 60 students grading from Newton Longville, Bletchley, Newport Pagnell and Green Park.
As covid restrictions had eased, instead of one group/one time slot, we grouped the grades together so we could give them a warm up lesson first before their grading. This also allowed for more dan grades to assist in the grading process and on the whole, it went well.
All instructors were very proud of the achievements of their students and a successfull day was had by all.
Senseis McMahon
Bedford Area Grading Report
It was a glorious Saturday morning for the grading; it needed to be as we were locked out of the hall and were kept outside for a while when we arrived!! Apologies to all attendees for that once again; fingers crossed it won’t be the same in December; although we’ve never had a karate snowball fight as far as I can recall so that would be something new!
We were back for the first grading since Covid where everyone arrived and trained together, rather than in small groups by grade. It was good to get back to the ‘normal/traditional’ ways of grading and it gave lower grades the chance to higher grades training that they wouldn’t normally see. Even though we were in the hall a little late, we still had a good group training session which included some basics, sparring and kata for everyone, followed by Dan grades performing a kata at the end to give everyone an idea of things to come. After that club trophies were presented and we then had a minutes silence in memory of Her Majesty The Queen.
Being the grading straight after the summer holidays meant that we were a few less grading than usual, but instructors were pleased to see that the standard of candidates had risen since the June grading and it made the grading a pleasurable and rewarding experience for all! It also meant there was no overrunning on time either (unlike my lessons!)
So, congratulations to all those who passed and keep up the hard training ready for December! For those who weren’t quite ready in September, don’t worry karate is not a race! Keep training hard and, as there’s only about 8 weeks until the next grading, it will be here before you know it so why not aim to have your new belt for Christmas?!
Happy training!
Sensei Saunders
Trophy Winners
Michelle Feltham (Kempston), Isla Griffiths (Clapham) and Alessio Florio (Brickhill)
Evie Woodland (Newton Longville)
Callum (Newport Pagnall)
Saatyaki Choda (Bletchley)
Keep up the great training and dojo attendance and next time, it could be you!!