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5 of our students pass their black belt gradings.

The time had come again for a number of our senior belts to take their black belt grading. The actual grading had been split into two days and the dates were set for Friday 30th and Saturday 31st July 2010.

The 5 students who were going for this grading were Chris Plain, Jack Plain, Kev Toon, Rob Ponting and Tim Broadbent, all of which have been training with us for at least 4 years and have been working towards this grading since the started training with us.

The black belt is the tenth belt in our syllabus (more information about our syllabus can be found using the link on the left) and each student must pass each belt before this one in order to qualify for the actual grading, plus satisfy a number of other criteria before they will be put for ward for this belt.

They each had to complete:

201 individual techniques
6 pre-set punching combinations
18 pre-set kicking combinations

Although this may sound like a lot for each person, it actually is not for any student who regularly trains week in week out, and each of the students taking their black belt have shown many years of dedication and commitment to both their training and the club throughout this time.

Each student is individually scored out ten for each technique and each student must achieve a minimum pass mark based on the number of techniques they have to perform, although we do not disclose any students score to anyone other than the actual student in any of our gradings, I can honestly say that each and everyone of these 5 students passed with a mark well above the required level, which is set at a very high level to begin with. It goes without saying that if any student does not achieve the required level, then they do not pass the grading and have to take it again, this is something that is taken very seriously and something that I am very passionate about and believe is a fundamental part of our system and structure, and that every belt that is worn within our club, has been worked extremely hard for over many many years of training, this is something that will never change.

I am very honoured and proud to see these students pass this massive milestone and would like to thank them for the hard work and effort that they have put in to achieve this, as this is what makes my job as an instructor so rewarding and enjoyable. And I hope that I have many more years of enjoyable teaching and training with these guys, and every other student within our clubs.

Well done to you all.

Rob Ponting Tim Broadbent Chris Plain Jack Plain Kev Toon