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Writer's pictureSensei Simon McMahon

Kyu Gradings - March 2015

Another round of gradings took place as we changed from February to March. It was a very successful one too. Many congratulations must go to all who passed successfully. Each student departed happily as we had no failures at all. This is a rare event and one that everyone who attended must take pride in. It is proof that students are practicing more and thus becoming more proficient and confident.


It is worth mentioning again that to grade is a reward for diligent practice and not a right. We train to get better at karate and to grade successfully is proof that a student has achieved this. It is not the colour of the belt that is important; it is how good you are and how much you have improved that is important.


It may be pertinent to point out CFTS’s philosophy on grades.

  • Taking Blue belt isn’t too difficult at all. It is more a formality. It is a final decider before a student commits to training regularly before buying a karate suit, joins CFTS and buys a licence.

  • Red, Orange and Yellow belts are about learning the basic moves and combinations a bit like learning to dance. To achieve this a student should be training twice a week by the time they are yellow belt. The grading syllabus widens here and simply an hour a week or visiting the dojo once a week is not enough to learn new skills and improve what they already know.

  • Green and Purple belt through to Purple-and-White is about making those dance moves work and it is now that a student should be able to make their karate look like a defensive fighting system with controlled aggression. Developing stamina, strength and a better technique should occur through these grades and the reward for achieving this is taking Brown belt.

  • By the time a student is a Brown belt their karate should be effective. It should work! A student should be in a position to defend themselves against someone of the same age or gender that doesn’t train in a martial art.

  • A Brown-and-Red belt (1st Kyu) should regard themselves as apprentice black belt. By the time they are a black belt (Dan Grade) they should be in a position to deal with any threatening situation out on the street. This may simply be by having the courage to walk away from a bad situation or to diffuse a situation by calming an aggressor down or maybe by simply running away. Only as a final resort should a black belt have to fight to defend themselves but as a CFTS black belt they should be able to do so against over 90% of the population. It is always worth remembering that there is always someone more aggressive, more capable than you who in any case may be under the influence of alcohol or drugs so it is wise not to be overconfident.

We have ten new brown and red belts (1st Kyu) after these recent gradings all who performed well and congratulations must go to them all. They have now started their apprenticeship for black belt and by now have probably checked out the website to see what academic studies they must also undertake to take their black belt grading. To undertake black belt is a big task and it is usual to be training three times a week as the big day gets nearer.


For some the weekend was even more special than for others, the ones who were awarded the quarterly club awards. Congratulations must go to those winners below, well done to all.

The winners were:


MILTON KEYNES AREA TROPHY WINNERS


MILTON KEYNES AREA TROPHY WINNER


BEDFORD AREA TROPHY WINNERS


CLUB TROPHY WINNER

CFTS AMPTHILL DAVID CROSSMAN

CFTS BLETCHLEY DAVID FRANCIS

CFTS BRICKHILL JENNY AND ISOBEL CURRIE

CFTS BUSHFIELD SHANNON AKICHY

CFTS CEDARS MADISON STOPFORD

CFTS CLAPHAM FRANCESCA RICHARDSON

CFTS KEMPSTON AMBER MEAD

CFTS NEWPORT PAGNELL HERBIE READ

CFTS NEWTON LONGVILLE STEVE, NICKY, RUBY AND NAOMI MATHERON

CFTS WOLVERTON NOT AWARDED

...AND DON'T FORGET THE NEXT CFTS COURSE!

The next course is the Shihan Wayne Bo Kumite Course, Sunday 17th May 2015 at 14:30 at the Bunyan Sports Centre, Bedford.

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