Gradings

[bully]

With the chat about sash's it started me thinking about the old days when I graded.

Do you do them or does your instructor just teach you new forms etc when you are ready?

Are gradings old hat i.e. 80's/90's or worth doing?

I thought I would try and remember what I did for my "grey sash" in 1995, it was a big step in our club as it was considered the first senior rank and you were then allowed to attend the advanced Wednesday evening class

There were about 10 of us, all males ranging from 18 to about 25..so all hugely competitive and of course bullet proof.

It was around 3 hours and a panel of 5 watched and marked you which consisted of 2 instructors and 3 senior students, one of the instructors was from another CMA school (Tai Chi)

Started with warm up and then fitness test - a minute of squats, press ups and sit ups...they counted to make sure you did more than 60 of each. (so they said!)

Advanced self defence - this involved us queuing up and throwing punches etc at student who had to stop them and disable the attacker, you then turned around and it was your turn to be attacked. This is something we practiced a lot and although it wasn't really WC I liked it as it gave us ideas on stuff like being grabbed, etc when you simply dont have time to do the perfect WC response. 23 years later I still remember many of the responses.

Milling - face to face with 16oz gloves and smash the hell out of each other for 1 minute, no moving back or turning around...to test our spirit supposedly.

Bulldog - you at one end of the room and the other 9 guys at the other. Aim was to touch the wall behind them. They used any means necessary to stop you and no one ever touched the wall.

Takedowns - 9 of us standing on the mat and one moving around the 9 dropping them one after the other. A different method every time. Wasn't that easy as we were told not to make it too easy.

Floor fighting - sit back to back then when told turn around and try to use a bit of WC on your knees if possible but it usually ended up with locks/holds etc until one tapped out.

Sparring - padded up and do the best WC you can (not easy with the gloves etc back then) we each fought each other, a KO, takedown or getting pushed out of the red square on the matt was what we aimed for. It was brutal at times as we all wanted to win being young and full of testosterone, also being graded. Minor injuries were not uncommon but you had to carry on whatever.

Getting hit - I cant remember what he called it but one by one we had to stand on the mat and one of the senior guys would come up to and tap a part of your body....thigh, chest etc and you had to tense it, breathe and take a pretty full on shot there. Why I dont know but it bloody hurt, mine was on the shoulder.

Finally you got to do the forms, and then some chi sau.

You were then asked to kneel facing away from the panel and remove your sash and place it behind you. You were not allowed to turn around until told, and boy did they make you wait!! if you turned around it was instant failure. If your sash remained you had not passed, or your new grey sash would be waiting for you.

We all passed that night but chatting to other guys there were failures sometimes.

A deserved beer was had by all of us after.

Reading the above I think my old instructor modelled his club on Cobra Kai

I did however enjoy every minute of it back then, nowadays I would be in the emergency room after the fitness test.

 

[geezer]

Well, that approach wouldn't suit my group. We're mostly older (mid-thirties to mid-sixties) and we spend most of our time on our VT material and not fitness. Also, we are a small group so I already know where my students are, so there are no large group tests. It's more individualized with a student presenting material and being evaluated and corrected. The exceptions would be testing for the grey shirt (advanced intermediate) and Primary Level (First instructor grade). Those levels are often tested before a panel of two-three instructors (if available) and have a sparring component.

 

[Danny T]

I do gradings and physical fitness is a part...that said every training session is a test of sorts. The grading is more for the student than for me. It is to expose to them their strengths knowledge & skill wise as well as their weaknesses. There is a specific material to be presented along with some level of scenario based sparring; single & multiple opponents empty handed & with weapons.

 

[Headhunter]

I think they're very important. To give a challenge to the group and to actually show their stuff in a stressful situation.

 

[anerlich]

I like the ceremonial aspect of gradings. To some degree I feel they provide a smaller version of the "rite of passage" that many feel is missing from modern society.

 

[JP3]

A deserved beer was had by all of us after.

Reading the above I think my old instructor modelled his club on Cobra Kai

I did however enjoy every minute of it back then, nowadays I would be in the emergency room after the fitness test.

We were all young and dumb once.... some of us (*waves*) are still dumb.

 

[JR 137]

We were all young and dumb once.... some of us (*waves*) are still dumb.

Guys don't grow up, we just get older. Just when I think my father is a grownup, I see him carrying on with his brothers. Much the same way I carry on with mine. Much the same way we got yelled at for when we were in our teens.

For reference, my father is 68 years old.

 

[Bino TWT]

We have a very structured curriculum and grading system world wide. At any given level, you should be on par with all of the other WT schools, as far as the information that has been presented to you.

 

[Phobius]

To us grading is an indicator that you know at least the information up to and including that grade. Sort of like a proof.

What you really know may far extend that grade and either you lack bits and pieces for the next grade or you may just simply not had enough time to prove to your sifu that you really are confident with those concepts, techniques etc that are required.

We study all, no limitations due to knowledge or grades. The grades are just something that exist to provide us with goals until we are good enough to set up our own.

 

[JP3]

I use, because it was designed that way, the grading system in my Tomiki aikido to keep me in line with where the student is in the learning curve, since everything is taught and tested upon systematically.

Which isn't to say that we don't introduce other perhaps more advanced material to a student whose rank doesn't support it, we just don't have any expectation on them to demo it for grade purposes.

 

[Martial D]

With the chat about sash's it started me thinking about the old days when I graded.

Do you do them or does your instructor just teach you new forms etc when you are ready?

Are gradings old hat i.e. 80's/90's or worth doing?

I thought I would try and remember what I did for my "grey sash" in 1995, it was a big step in our club as it was considered the first senior rank and you were then allowed to attend the advanced Wednesday evening class

There were about 10 of us, all males ranging from 18 to about 25..so all hugely competitive and of course bullet proof.

It was around 3 hours and a panel of 5 watched and marked you which consisted of 2 instructors and 3 senior students, one of the instructors was from another CMA school (Tai Chi)

Started with warm up and then fitness test - a minute of squats, press ups and sit ups...they counted to make sure you did more than 60 of each. (so they said!)

Advanced self defence - this involved us queuing up and throwing punches etc at student who had to stop them and disable the attacker, you then turned around and it was your turn to be attacked. This is something we practiced a lot and although it wasn't really WC I liked it as it gave us ideas on stuff like being grabbed, etc when you simply dont have time to do the perfect WC response. 23 years later I still remember many of the responses.

Milling - face to face with 16oz gloves and smash the hell out of each other for 1 minute, no moving back or turning around...to test our spirit supposedly.

Bulldog - you at one end of the room and the other 9 guys at the other. Aim was to touch the wall behind them. They used any means necessary to stop you and no one ever touched the wall.

Takedowns - 9 of us standing on the mat and one moving around the 9 dropping them one after the other. A different method every time. Wasn't that easy as we were told not to make it too easy.

Floor fighting - sit back to back then when told turn around and try to use a bit of WC on your knees if possible but it usually ended up with locks/holds etc until one tapped out.

Sparring - padded up and do the best WC you can (not easy with the gloves etc back then) we each fought each other, a KO, takedown or getting pushed out of the red square on the matt was what we aimed for. It was brutal at times as we all wanted to win being young and full of testosterone, also being graded. Minor injuries were not uncommon but you had to carry on whatever.

Getting hit - I cant remember what he called it but one by one we had to stand on the mat and one of the senior guys would come up to and tap a part of your body....thigh, chest etc and you had to tense it, breathe and take a pretty full on shot there. Why I dont know but it bloody hurt, mine was on the shoulder.

Finally you got to do the forms, and then some chi sau.

You were then asked to kneel facing away from the panel and remove your sash and place it behind you. You were not allowed to turn around until told, and boy did they make you wait!! if you turned around it was instant failure. If your sash remained you had not passed, or your new grey sash would be waiting for you.

We all passed that night but chatting to other guys there were failures sometimes.

A deserved beer was had by all of us after.

Reading the above I think my old instructor modelled his club on Cobra Kai

I did however enjoy every minute of it back then, nowadays I would be in the emergency room after the fitness test.

That's pretty hardcore for a WC school. I'd go to that school.