Report on Dan Grading  Held at Springwood Leisure centre on Saturday 6th June 2009.

A panel consisting of two third Dans Julie Evans and Andy Banks,one second  Dan, Maureen Coyne   and Trevor Seddon 4th dan.

Everyone  turned up well before time which set the tone for the day .All in white suits as required washed ironed and ready to go.

We quickly got underway with Line work followed by the combinations and a short break this gave the panel time to discuss what they had seen.

Then it was Kata which turned out to be all the 9 katas they needed for Black belt.Then another short break.

Finally Paired work followed by free sparring which as usual was the most popular thing on the day.

Over all good standard members of the panel asked to see anything they were not quite happy with and these points were made to the students.

A dan grade should not be torture  but the students should show that they really do want a black belt and that they are worth one.

Im pleased to say that .......

The Hyde family---Jonathan ,Lydia and Robert did this. Also Ben Smith -Jon Knutton and Tony Humphrey-Lewis also did the same.

We musnt forget also that Wayne Newey was promoted to Shodan Ho alongside Ross Edwards and Edward Howe.  A special mention to Jack Baxter the youngest on the day who achieved  1st Kyu He did very well alongside all those taking Blackbelt.He had not been under this pressure before and wasnt put off by all the Japanese commands flying about.

So all in all a good day and a good standard now the learning really starts.......the first hurdle is to keep motivated.!!