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Fall 2007 Grading

Congratulations to all the dedicated Redding Shotokan Karate members who participated in the grading on Saturday! We were happy to be able to promote everybody, something which is not guaranteed. This shows that everybody had already attained the higher level, and each person was able to express him or herself well enough to show that level. Again, congratulations!

There were a couple surprises...

On the positive side, Gareth's kihon (basics) were on fire! Lynette's kiais were deafening and showed her strong intensity. Greg and his boys Michael and Andrew displayed the results of dedicated practice by having corrected most, if not all, the things we asked them to work on. Sammy, coming to us with an open mind from a completely different style of martial arts, showed his experience - we were unanimous in promoting him from unranked straight to 7th kyu.

Ummm, there were some things to work on. Our guest judge, Nidan Scott Kingsbury, saw in everyone's front stance a weak back leg. He gave an excellent talk on the subject and made some good points about the benefits of a strong back leg and "soft" front knee, and made some good points about the negative effects of the weak back leg. Some students also showed the incorrect mentality on the kumite portion of the test and had to be reminded by David (who was leading). Scott also lectured a bit about that at the conclusion of the test, and David and Scott put on a great demonstration of chudan-level ippon gumite.

All in all, an excellent grading! I'm looking forward to the next phase!

Congratulations

Congratulations should go all around. To each of the students who have shown their commitment to improving themselves. No one else can do that for you. You tested and showed your true strengths. And to the instructors not only a congratulations but a thank you. We are truly fortunate to have instructors with such commitment, dedication, and expertise. And even with this they remain very personable. An exemplary example of the lesson of Shotokan Karate…humility.
  • By jimh at 11/21/2007 - 00:06
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Another great kyu-test

Thank you Brad for your prompt kyu-test report, and also for adding the nice image galleries! To Jim, as one of the instructors, I feel honored! We are learning from helping as well. Congratulations to all of you! Thank you for trying your best!

  • By hiroko at 11/27/2007 - 18:31
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