Dan Grading - 18th November 2007

On Sunday 18th November 2007 the Ryoshin Karate Association held a black belt grading at the Rouel rd tennants association hall in Bermonsey south London. Te-Ashi-Do had two candidates taking their 1st dan an unusual event as they were father and son, Harry and Steve O.Brien.

Harry aged 12yrs and Steve 45yrs both of whom have been training hard throughout the year. Steve has had a few problems in the past with a dislocated shoulder which he had done as a young lad doing kickboxing and had to have an operation in 2006 to make it more stable and it seemed to have worked as he has not had any more problems with it since. Harry being a young boy and in good health just had to knuckle down a bit and at times seemed to loose a little bit of focus, but still worked hard and showed his true potential earlier at our junior competition by winning his section.

On the day there were 8 candidates with one taking 2nd dan and another taking their 3rd dan as you can imagine everyone was a little nervous but all that training payed off. During the day everyone done their best and displayed good spirit and determination with one or two small errors but thats what its all about showing your true desire not be beaten by nerves or tiredness.

The panel of Sensei's ROB CURTIS 5TH DAN ANDY MAJOR 4TH DAN STAN KLEPTA 3RD DAN and TREVOR BOYD 3RD DAN made their assesments as to whether the candidates had passed or failed with each one giving their various reasons for there decisions. I was glad to see that both Steve and Harry had passed and although I may be a bit biased (!) I think that they were both excellent. I must say a BIG WELL DONE to both of them.

So all of you students out there must take heart from this as it shows that if you keep on training and practicing you can all only get better and achieve the goals that you set yourselves, be it in Karate or at school or in your work - its the old maxim "you only get out what you put in".

Sensei Andy Major 4th Dan.