Aegis
Purple Belt
Let's face it, gradings are something all of us want to do at some point, though whether it's to test ourselves against a standard, or just to get a new brightly coloured belt depends on the person. Either way, gradings should be memorable. So, here's the topic of my thread: what was your last grading like?
To kick it all off, I'll detail mine. My last grading was for my green belt in Jujutsu. And I have to admit, I was worried. Not so much about my techniques, which I felt were up to the task, or about my defences... I was worried about my middle work. That's the name we give to our more advanced tests of self defence ability, where one candidate gets out in frotn of the rest and shows their stuff. 2 lines of attackers form, and one of the sensei will send attackers out at a speed he feels will push the candidate to the limit of what they can do to see if they crack under the pressure. It's quite scary when you're out there, especially when they introduce weapons to the group, ones that you quite often won't see until the opponent is right on top of you trying to hit you with it.
In addition, I'd broken my second toe the week before, so I was limping and unable to move quite as fast as I'd have liked. I bound it up and just hoped no-one would tread on it throughout the the grading.
On that count I was to be severely disappointed. I counted no less than 4 separate stamps on that one toe, one of which pulled the dressing right off. So needless to say, it hurt for a while after that.
During the grading, I had the time of my life for the most part, managing to demonstrate all of the theory without making a complete fool of myself (unlike me previous grading where I fell over during a foot sweep and landed at the feet of the examiner...
). That left only the middle work to go.
I was the last one at my grade to be called out, so I'd gone through the "V" several times and was really feeling mytoe now.. very painful by this point. When I was called up, I was really worried, as several people had done a really good job of defending themselves, while others had fallen apart and lost control of their attackers. I felt certain I would fall into the latter group and panic, but for the most part I managed to stay calm through the attacks, only getting hit twice throughout. Unfortunately for me, the second of the attacks that hit was a cosh, which broke over my head. I still managed to survive a few more attacks before the examiner was satisfied, at which point I was allowed to rest for a moment before finishing the grading.
Although we aren't allowed to see exactly how well we did, I think I probably got a comfortable pass, but by no means the top mark. I hope to put even more effort into my next grading so I can make my instructors proud when I get the grade.
Apologies, I'm not usually this long winded
To kick it all off, I'll detail mine. My last grading was for my green belt in Jujutsu. And I have to admit, I was worried. Not so much about my techniques, which I felt were up to the task, or about my defences... I was worried about my middle work. That's the name we give to our more advanced tests of self defence ability, where one candidate gets out in frotn of the rest and shows their stuff. 2 lines of attackers form, and one of the sensei will send attackers out at a speed he feels will push the candidate to the limit of what they can do to see if they crack under the pressure. It's quite scary when you're out there, especially when they introduce weapons to the group, ones that you quite often won't see until the opponent is right on top of you trying to hit you with it.
In addition, I'd broken my second toe the week before, so I was limping and unable to move quite as fast as I'd have liked. I bound it up and just hoped no-one would tread on it throughout the the grading.
On that count I was to be severely disappointed. I counted no less than 4 separate stamps on that one toe, one of which pulled the dressing right off. So needless to say, it hurt for a while after that.
During the grading, I had the time of my life for the most part, managing to demonstrate all of the theory without making a complete fool of myself (unlike me previous grading where I fell over during a foot sweep and landed at the feet of the examiner...
). That left only the middle work to go. I was the last one at my grade to be called out, so I'd gone through the "V" several times and was really feeling mytoe now.. very painful by this point. When I was called up, I was really worried, as several people had done a really good job of defending themselves, while others had fallen apart and lost control of their attackers. I felt certain I would fall into the latter group and panic, but for the most part I managed to stay calm through the attacks, only getting hit twice throughout. Unfortunately for me, the second of the attacks that hit was a cosh, which broke over my head. I still managed to survive a few more attacks before the examiner was satisfied, at which point I was allowed to rest for a moment before finishing the grading.
Although we aren't allowed to see exactly how well we did, I think I probably got a comfortable pass, but by no means the top mark. I hope to put even more effort into my next grading so I can make my instructors proud when I get the grade.
Apologies, I'm not usually this long winded
