BWCSK and Kenshin Kyu Gradings – December 2023

Over the weekends of the 2nd December 2023 and 9th December 2023 BWCSK held the end of year gradings with students from the BWCSK Longbridge and Weoley Castle dojos and Kenshin Stechford dojo attending. The gradings were held at the usual location of the Longbridge dojo situated within the Bournville College (South and City College Birmingham) Urban fitness Sports Hall.

The first date was for beginner’s to red belts (with a few higher grades who couldn’t make the following weekend also grading) and the second date was for yellow belts and above. Whilst unfortuantely this time around a couple of students did not meet the required standard to pass their grading on the day never forget that just putting yourself forward to be grading takes courage as the pass is not guaranteed. Many karate-ka over the years have failed gradings (some multiple times) the ones who bounce back and come back training harder, determined not to fail again eventually achieve their goal. A very senior graded black belt instructor I know will often tell you that they failed their shodan multiple times but followed shihan Cummin’s motto of “never give in, never give up” and came back each time stronger until they passed. Well sone to those who passed we were pleased with the overall standard, effort and endeavour you all put in. A special mention for young Laura who took and passed her red belt grading all on her own at the Kenshin dojo on the Friday night. gradings are terrifying enough at that age never mind doing the grading on your own but she didn’t let that phase her and did very well.

The club is now closed until the second week of January so we wish you all a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. Have a well deserved rest after a year of hard training and we will see you all next year.

Kyu Gradings – September 2023

BWCSK held their September Kyu Gradings at the Longbridge Dojo over two weekends on Saturday 16th Sepetember and Satirday 23rd September 2023.This was a relatively small grading coming straight after the summer break with only a sinle student from Kenshin SKC and a small number of BWCSK students. Well done to everyone who took a grading over the last couple of weekends. Gradings are never easy when you have to perform in front of everyone and you all did extraordinarily well to take the examinations.

Thanks as always to all those who helped make this day happen in the background doing all the admin and to all the instructors who helped get people ready for today.

Richard & Sue

Kenshin Kyu Gradings – July 2023

We held the July 2023 Kenshin SKC gradings at their home Stechford Leisure Centre dojo due to the travel disruption as a result of strikes and inclement weather for the March gradings. These were held over the course of two Friday evening sessions for the lower and more advanced grades. Senseis Mike, Jacob and Richard were pleased with how you applied yourself to the grading especially as the senior grades grading was postponed the night before the original date due to one of the examiner’s suffering a family bereavement which would have thrown many as they had prepared for the grading on that date.

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Kyu Gradings – June 2023

The BWCSK Kyu gradings took place on the weekends of the 10th June 2023 and the 17th June 2023 with a few additional students who couldn’t attend those days grading at the Weoley Castle dojo in week around those dates. Well done to all of you who passed your gradings all the instructors were pleased with the standard of karate shown. As i always say no grading is easy and especially for the younger children they can be quite stressful but you all did yourself proud.

Special thanks to Harvey who assisted on Ava’s grading for the sparring.

Kyu Gradings – March 2023

Over the weekends of the 11^th and 18^th March 2023 Birmingham & Weoley Castle Shotokan Karate along with our sister club Kenshin Shotokan Karate Club in Stechford held the Kyu Grading examinations for March 2023. As usual we had students of all ages, grades and abilities testing themselves to continue their karate journey and hopefully advance in grade. We were very pleased with the effort everybody put in to give their best in what any of us who have graded know is a very stressful situation. So as instructors we would like to say well done to everybody who took their grading and congratulations to all those who passed.

We would like to thank all of the instructors and admin team who volunteer their time to help make this happen and organise things on the day. This grading we would like to give a special mention to Becky Clarke who came in on a landmark birthday to help out on the gradings. We had a little presentation of a card and cake for her and a rendition of Happy Birthday to mark the occasion before commencing the gradings and we wish her a happy birthday.

Below are a few pictures from the two days.