# passed my yellow belt grading!



## Blade96 (Feb 27, 2010)

Am 8th kyu now!

not a white belt anymore.

(then again I heard someone say that white belt is the most important  belt...for without them there can be no black belts....soooo guess i  aint as important anymore....hehe)

Test was a lot of fun. You were right....the first KIAI i gave - and i  made them very loud cause i also read somewhere that it can wake up the  judges cause they might get bored sometimes - made nerves go away.

Think I'll tell about it....there might be people who'd like to know a  bit about what happens at one the same way I wanted to know. This is  what happened at mine.

we lined up at the command shugo as always - but we were told to stand  in front, those who graded, and BB's were in back. was so they could see  us. Then we were put through the Tsuruoka sequence - a sequence named  of course after the famous founder of karate in Canada, Masami Tsuruoka  sensei (and my sensei's teacher. well him and Hidetaka Nishiyama sensei,  a student of Funakoshi o sensei were both my teacher's teachers. Like I  said, good lineage.) I was the only one to do it right with each block  every time. The other 2 white belts fluffed it. I could see them out of  the corner of my eyes. Then we did seiken zuki, first normally, then in  kiba dachi stance.  then we did oi zuki, then the blocks moving forward.  Then gyaku zuki which i fluffed, but it didnt count against me because  its not part of white belt testing. (i know it but when you've learned  to oi zuki then gyaku zuki takes some getting used to.) Then we did mae  geri keage zenkutsu dachi then kiba dachi with yoko.

Then we did our kata. first as a group then each of us was called up  individually to do it. One of the white belts temporarily forgot his  shutos at the end of it. Me and the other white belt did it perfectly  though.

then we did ippon kumite which I did perfectly without any mistakes. 

Then the higher belt levels testing did their stuff. Yellow belt testing  for orange did his stuff right and his heian nidan and his kumite and  sparring were good.  But poor blue belt testing for brown wasnt so  lucky. Poor guy, he had injured his knee some weeks before so when he  did the jump in  Heian Godan kata he stumbled a bit. didnt fall, but his  landing wasnt perfect. Also, when he did his kumite, he nearly passed  out! when done just walked to the wall and collapsed! Was breathing so  hard I thought he might have a heart attack or something. His breaths  literally sounded like bellows. No joke. 

anyway we all passed. Nobody failed. not even the nearly dead blue belt  who is now brown. Of us three white now yellow belts, only I escaped  criticism though. With the other 2, the black belts who give their  opinions, and the senseis who make the final decision, it was kind of  like 'you earned your yellow but you need to work on this, this, and  this' With me though, sensei turned to me and said Unanimous agreement  from everyone. And not a word of criticism, even constructive.  Absolutely perfect. I thought they were a bi9t harsh on the half dead  guy though. They criticised his kata. 'you can do a better kata than  this' Yes, but he'd hurt his knee! They also criticized his breathing.  which i suppose made sense.

I went to a bar downtown with some of the higher belts and the 2 senseis  of course. I sat between sempai and sensei. Both of them bought me  drinks (white russians cause they know I love those) and fed me french  fries, chicken wings and onion rings. Had a great time for several  hours. Talked about everything....a lot of it was olympic talk. Both my  sensei and I are hockey fans and fans of the Detroit Red Wings of the  NHL.

Then came home and watched canada almost lose to the Czechs in the ice  hockey olympic game. (we almost didnt make it to the gold medal game!)   Then went to bed and passed out myself because I was tired too. 

But I had a great time yesterday.......loved it! Hehehe.

I got my new belt this morning.


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## MA-Caver (Feb 27, 2010)

Congratulations!! Another step achieved in your journey. Happy for you and while don't know you still feel proud of you for your accomplishment. Keep it up!


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## seasoned (Feb 27, 2010)

First mile stone, out of white belt, good for you. Congratulations and good luck on your journey.:asian:


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## 72ronin (Feb 27, 2010)

congrats


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## Gordon Nore (Feb 27, 2010)

Congrats, brother.

You're in good hands, indeed. Tsuruoka Sensei is amazing and has produced fine teachers -- I used to know one of his dans from his Toronto dojo.

http://tsuruokakarate.com/O'Sensei.html


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## Blade96 (Feb 27, 2010)

Thanks all :angel:

btw Gordon that would be sister =] I'm a lady Shotokanka. 

I know I'm in good hands  My senseis are amazing. and I know all about Tsuruoka-sensei, Nishiyama-sensei, and Funakoshi O-Sensei. My senseis are good people too. Good instructors and good people. Likewise for the others who train there, though I am closer to some of them than to others. But I couldnt ask for a better Shotokan Karate-do family than what I have! 

I'm happy. I look forward to learning the yellow belt criteria portion of training now.

~ Ooooosssss! ~


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## stickarts (Feb 27, 2010)

congrats!


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## Gordon Nore (Feb 27, 2010)

Blade96 said:


> Thanks all :angel:
> 
> btw Gordon that would be sister =] I'm a lady Shotokanka.



Sorry about that. :angel:


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## searcher (Feb 28, 2010)

Congrats!!!

You studying Chito-ryu as well as Shotokan?     It ismy understanding that Tsuruoka is a Chito-ryu guy.     I don't keep up with you all up north, so I may be mistaken.


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## Ken Morgan (Feb 28, 2010)

Congratulations Jackie!!
I think beer and wings are a tradition after every practice and gradings, everywhere.


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## Blade96 (Feb 28, 2010)

searcher said:


> Congrats!!!
> 
> You studying Chito-ryu as well as Shotokan?     It ismy understanding that Tsuruoka is a Chito-ryu guy.     I don't keep up with you all up north, so I may be mistaken.



He is chito-ryu  But I only study Shotokan. My senseis were 2 of his students though. 



Ken Morgan said:


> Congratulations Jackie!!
> I think beer and wings are a tradition after every practice and gradings, everywhere.



mmmmmm (moaning homer-simpson style hehe) beer and wings......

I perfer to be called Jacklyn btw. I actually hate the name jackie.


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## Bill Mattocks (Feb 28, 2010)

Blade96 said:


> Me and the other white belt did it perfectly  though.
> 
> then we did ippon kumite which I did perfectly without any mistakes.



Congratulations!

If I can humbly offer one bit of advice - you didn't do your kata perfectly.  You did it correctly for advancement, no doubt, and well-done to you for being able to do that.  But kata takes a lifetime to perfect, and even black belts and masters take correction on their kata and learn new insights about what their kata means.  At this stage, doing good kata (for you and me) means correctly repeating what we're taught, but it's hardly perfect; learning what it really means will continue to be an eye-opening exploration of our art for decades to come.

I hope to never think I've done my kata perfectly.  Perfect means the end of learning; there's more than enough to learn about kata to keep me busy the rest of my life.

I offer my sincere congratulations, though!  Keep learning, keep striving!


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## Blade96 (Feb 28, 2010)

Oh right. Thats what i  meant, what you said Bill, i should have used different words though.

Thanks for that.


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## dbell (Mar 1, 2010)

Congrats, many more test to come!!  Keep up the good work and training!


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## terryl965 (Mar 1, 2010)

Congrats you are now on your way....


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## Blade96 (Mar 1, 2010)

Thank you very much.


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## Stac3y (Mar 1, 2010)

Congratulations!


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## MilkManX (Mar 1, 2010)

Congrats! Keep it up!

OSU!


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## Blade96 (Mar 1, 2010)

Osu to you as well. 

btw thanks Stacy.


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## twendkata71 (Mar 7, 2010)

*congrats. I remember when I passed my first belt test. I was so excited. Each level I passed made me thirst for more knowledge.  Keep up the training. *


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## Blade96 (Mar 7, 2010)

twendkata71 said:


> *congrats. I remember when I passed my first belt test. I was so excited. Each level I passed made me thirst for more knowledge.  Keep up the training. *



thanks so much =]

lol yeah, I know how that feels. I doing the 8th kyu yellow belt training now and every time I finish class I think 'I want more! i want to know more and do more!'


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## Guro Harold (Mar 8, 2010)

Congratulations!!!

This thread is a prime example as to what Yellow Belts bring to a system,
enthusiasm and growth!!!!

-Guro Harold


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## Carol (Mar 8, 2010)

Fabulous news!   

When I earned my yellow belt in Kenpo, I was nearly in tears.  I had never in my life earned any kind of athletic accomplishment, and had finally done so at age 38.   Keep up the great work


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## Blade96 (Mar 8, 2010)

Carol said:


> Fabulous news!
> 
> When I earned my yellow belt in Kenpo, I was nearly in tears.  *I had never in my life earned any kind of athletic accomplishment*, and had finally done so at age 38.   Keep up the great work



I felt that way in december when I gold medalled at my Kata portion of a tournament and got the highest marks. Never won anything athletic in my life, and nobody believed in me because i was born with a slight balance problem. Nobody believed I would ever do anything. I almost broke down sobbing right there on the mat waiting to receive my medal!

My yellow belt was great too! I was sososo happy! Wasnt as close to tears as in december but it was still so great!


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