Got promoted.... head spinning

[TSDTexan]

Long time coming, but I earned my (よん) Yon-kyu grade. Everyone was told "prepare one form and three applications from it"
Then we get pop quized a week early. (fun times, but i was ready) The head instructor call my name. i do my form "Shimpatan"... calm and nearly flawless.
He calls others, they do their single form.
He calls my nme and asks me to do it again.
(now i feel like he is messing with my mind).

After i do it again, and return to the line, He calls on another... when they finish.... He calls me again and asks me to do a different kata from arround my grade. I do "Seiryru".
Then He says do it again....
And I seriously comply. 100% effort. "Seiryru"Again.

Then He says, "do another." And He has a Yudansha join me. So we do "Kyoku Nidan" per his request.
Then He says.... you guessed it...
"Do another" this time "Pinan Nidan".
and switches out the Yudansha for a different person.

Then He says to the 1st Yudansha to rejoin the second Yudansha and myself, and do it again.
So we did "Pinan Nidan" again.

Then I return to the line. The blackbelts huddle with the head instructor.

Afterwards, He announced when i call your name come to the front, and stand facing shomen.

My name is called. i hurry to the designated spot.
He looks at my belt, and counts on his fingers in Japanese before announcing Yon Kyu.
i bow. and again I bow.
and return to the line. Three others also promoted tonight. I am ecstatic for them.

But I am feeling like its anti-climatic. I feel as if I really didn't earn it. Why did i get put me through so many forms? I was totally ok with not getting promoted.

it made my headspin. Im grateful to have promoted.
Please forgive the flash... it is something that ruins a photo (and obscures my features "muhahha" )

 

[Papageno]

Maybe he takes a special interest in you and want to make sure he will help you along with "future endeavors". Some senseis correct some students time and time again, while letting others (who make the same mistakes) slide. Anyway, his interest is good! He looks at you and wants to help you. Better than ignoring you.

(Or maybe he just want to show you who's in charge)

Anyway, well done and congrats!

 

[JowGaWolf]

Congrats on your accomplishment.

 

[Gerry Seymour]

Congratulations, man! Sounds like he was paying a lot of attention to something particular in your promotion. Was that a promotion to the next level, or was there a skip involved?

 

[Xue Sheng]

Congratulations

 

[Buka]

Congratulations, brother.

 

[TSDTexan]

Congratulations, man! Sounds like he was paying a lot of attention to something particular in your promotion. Was that a promotion to the next level, or was there a skip involved?

Haven't skipped a grade in a while. I think the last time i got a skip was from 9th to 7th kyu. Which was a few years ago. My last promotion was in Sept of 2018, by the late Nobuo Ichiwawa. I had a promotion exam about 5 months ago, which I inexcusably flunked.

So this time it was just 1 level up.

Yeah, it was kinda intimidating just being highly scrutinized. I expected it, but felt it none the less.

He is a very no nonsense guy during examinations.
Very sober and grave facial expressions. He brings some gravitas to the proceedings.

But 6 belts in 4.5 years means i am ahead of schedule... and in light of that, I am going to redouble my efforts.

Just maybe, I might earn dan in 8 instead of 10 years. I have a great deal many more forms to learn yet. Shodan is something like 30 forms. And I am at about 17 or 18 with a weak grasp on about 3 or 4 more.

I am able to pick them up a lot faster these days. however locking it down for retention is my current challenge.

 

[TSDTexan]

Maybe he takes a special interest in you and want to make sure he will help you along with "future endeavors". Some senseis correct some students time and time again, while letting others (who make the same mistakes) slide. Anyway, his interest is good! He looks at you and wants to help you. Better than ignoring you.

(Or maybe he just want to show you who's in charge)

Anyway, well done and congrats!

Congrats on your accomplishment.

Congratulations

Congratulations, brother.

Thank you guys, but my sempai and instructors deserve the credit more than I.

 

[JR 137]

Congratulations. 10 years average to shodan is pretty hardcore.

 

[JowGaWolf]

Thank you guys, but my sempai and instructors deserve the credit more than I.

To be honest, they don't and I don't mean that in a bad or mean way. They can only show you, but you have to put in the work and you did. Your sempai and instructors get credit for sharing the knowledge but after that it's all you. Your sempai and instructors would probably say the same thing. Even when you got help from others, you still had to put in the work.

Take your victory lap, be proud of your efforts and outcome. Enjoy the moment because there is still more hard work on the horizon.

 

[Monkey Turned Wolf]

Congratulations. And what jowga said. Dont forget to credit yourself- you put in the work, they just provided the tools.

 

[Gerry Seymour]

Haven't skipped a grade in a while. I think the last time i got a skip was from 9th to 7th kyu. Which was a few years ago. My last promotion was in Sept of 2018, by the late Nobuo Ichiwawa. I had a promotion exam about 5 months ago, which I inexcusably flunked.

So this time it was just 1 level up.

Yeah, it was kinda intimidating just being highly scrutinized. I expected it, but felt it none the less.

He is a very no nonsense guy during examinations.
Very sober and grave facial expressions. He brings some gravitas to the proceedings.

But 6 belts in 4.5 years means i am ahead of schedule... and in light of that, I am going to redouble my efforts.

Just maybe, I might earn dan in 8 instead of 10 years. I have a great deal many more forms to learn yet. Shodan is something like 30 forms. And I am at about 17 or 18 with a weak grasp on about 3 or 4 more.

I am able to pick them up a lot faster these days. however locking it down for retention is my current challenge.

How many belts are there, in total, to get to shodan?

 

[Gerry Seymour]

To be honest, they don't and I don't mean that in a bad or mean way. They can only show you, but you have to put in the work and you did. Your sempai and instructors get credit for sharing the knowledge but after that it's all you. Your sempai and instructors would probably say the same thing. Even when you got help from others, you still had to put in the work.

Take your victory lap, be proud of your efforts and outcome. Enjoy the moment because there is still more hard work on the horizon.

This.

 

[Monkey Turned Wolf]

Long time coming, but I earned my (よん) Yon-kyu grade. Everyone was told "prepare one form and three applications from it"
Then we get pop quized a week early. (fun times, but i was ready) The head instructor call my name. i do my form "Shimpatan"... calm and nearly flawless.
He calls others, they do their single form.
He calls my nme and asks me to do it again.
(now i feel like he is messing with my mind).

After i do it again, and return to the line, He calls on another... when they finish.... He calls me again and asks me to do a different kata from arround my grade. I do "Seiryru".
Then He says do it again....
And I seriously comply. 100% effort. "Seiryru"Again.

Then He says, "do another." And He has a Yudansha join me. So we do "Kyoku Nidan" per his request.
Then He says.... you guessed it...
"Do another" this time "Pinan Nidan".
and switches out the Yudansha for a different person.

Then He says to the 1st Yudansha to rejoin the second Yudansha and myself, and do it again.
So we did "Pinan Nidan" again.

Then I return to the line. The blackbelts huddle with the head instructor.

Afterwards, He announced when i call your name come to the front, and stand facing shomen.

My name is called. i hurry to the designated spot.
He looks at my belt, and counts on his fingers in Japanese before announcing Yon Kyu.
i bow. and again I bow.
and return to the line. Three others also promoted tonight. I am ecstatic for them.

But I am feeling like its anti-climatic. I feel as if I really didn't earn it. Why did i get put me through so many forms? I was totally ok with not getting promoted.

it made my headspin. Im grateful to have promoted.
Please forgive the flash... it is something that ruins a photo (and obscures my features "muhahha" )
View attachment 22435

In your position, honestly, I would feel incredibly frustrated. I'm not sure what rank Yon-kyu is, but by the kyu I'm guessing it's pre-black.(counting from 1-10 in Japanese doesn't result in a yon)

Either way, it's really unfair for your instructor to expert a higher level of proficiency compared to you other yon-kyus. Not to you-him not promoting you is never a disservice to you-but to those who trained with you. It means that they were able to move on to the next material before fully understanding the current material, which is absolute horseshit IMO.

 

[JR 137]

In your position, honestly, I would feel incredibly frustrated. I'm not sure what rank Yon-kyu is, but by the kyu I'm guessing it's pre-black.(counting from 1-10 in Japanese doesn't result in a yon)

Either way, it's really unfair for your instructor to expert a higher level of proficiency compared to you other yon-kyus. Not to you-him not promoting you is never a disservice to you-but to those who trained with you. It means that they were able to move on to the next material before fully understanding the current material, which is absolute horseshit IMO.

Yon kyu is 4th kyu.

As to why he seemingly did more than everyone else (going by what he wrote), I took it as he was the only one being tested.

 

[Gerry Seymour]

Yon kyu is 4th kyu.

As to why he seemingly did more than everyone else (going by what he wrote), I took it as he was the only one being tested.

That, or maybe he was the only one testing who'd failed the previous test (as he pointed out in a recent post).

 

[JR 137]

That, or maybe he was the only one testing who'd failed the previous test (as he pointed out in a recent post).

I thought that too.

 

[Yokozuna514]

Long time coming, but I earned my (よん) Yon-kyu grade. Everyone was told "prepare one form and three applications from it"
Then we get pop quized a week early. (fun times, but i was ready) The head instructor call my name. i do my form "Shimpatan"... calm and nearly flawless.
He calls others, they do their single form.
He calls my nme and asks me to do it again.
(now i feel like he is messing with my mind).

After i do it again, and return to the line, He calls on another... when they finish.... He calls me again and asks me to do a different kata from arround my grade. I do "Seiryru".
Then He says do it again....
And I seriously comply. 100% effort. "Seiryru"Again.

Then He says, "do another." And He has a Yudansha join me. So we do "Kyoku Nidan" per his request.
Then He says.... you guessed it...
"Do another" this time "Pinan Nidan".
and switches out the Yudansha for a different person.

Then He says to the 1st Yudansha to rejoin the second Yudansha and myself, and do it again.
So we did "Pinan Nidan" again.

Then I return to the line. The blackbelts huddle with the head instructor.

Afterwards, He announced when i call your name come to the front, and stand facing shomen.

My name is called. i hurry to the designated spot.
He looks at my belt, and counts on his fingers in Japanese before announcing Yon Kyu.
i bow. and again I bow.
and return to the line. Three others also promoted tonight. I am ecstatic for them.

But I am feeling like its anti-climatic. I feel as if I really didn't earn it. Why did i get put me through so many forms? I was totally ok with not getting promoted.

it made my headspin. Im grateful to have promoted.
Please forgive the flash... it is something that ruins a photo (and obscures my features "muhahha" )
View attachment 22435

It is too bad that you feel anti-climatic about the grading. It sounded like you were put through the wringer more than you expected but in the end you succeeded. You knew the forms and were able to perform them regardless of the conditions. Congratulations on the getting one step closer to the front of the line .

 

[JowGaWolf]

As to why he seemingly did more than everyone else (going by what he wrote),

This isn't always a bad thing. For all we know it could have been a personal reason why he was tested this way. Maybe there was something that the test givers wanted to see. Maybe they saw potential so instead of making him do the same as everyone else, they decided to challenge him more.

For me personally I wouldn't mind if I was put through the wringer in a martial arts class. Maybe more is expected of me than the other students. Maybe I'm being groomed for something bigger. Maybe they know that I can reach that expectation but they want me to know that too. Maybe I'm being used as an example, in which to inspire others. Maybe it's a test or a lesson of "Always be ready"

As an instructor, I never had the same performance expectations for the students. My expectations were customized. Some got more some got less. I expected more from those who worked hard and as a result those students were able to get more and benefit more from my lessons. It's just never really clear cut what's gong through instructors minds. Probably because the thoughts have the potential to create bad feelings within the school. Sort "Why does he get this and I don't?" type feelings.

That's what I like about Martial Arts in general. It's personalized, it's your own self improvement class based on what you put into your training.

 

[JowGaWolf]

Oh another thing about doing more than others. I get that at work as well, where my supervisors expectations are higher for me than for others who were there years before me. I do a lot more work than my co-workers and I can't tell if they are grooming me for something bigger, taking advantage of me, or setting me up to fail.

My entire attitude about it, is that I do the work, do my best, and get the job done to the best of my ability. Because at the end of the day I tackled the challenge and contributed. When I look at the team that I'm on, those co-workers do the same, they put the work in and don't slack off.

I bring this up because this is what I see in this statement "But 6 belts in 4.5 years means i am ahead of schedule... and in light of that, I am going to redouble my efforts."

I'm curious to know if the classmates that @TSDTexan talks to the most puts in hard work too, or does he talk mostly to the slacker crowd. Sometimes you can gauge your standing by looking at who you talk to the most and who you get paired with during class.