Ayrshire - Final Grading of 2013

It was a strange feeling walking into the hall at St Joesph's Academy this morning. For the first time in 18 months I was in that hall without my dobok on. I've another 3 months before I am eligible to grade but as my son was grading and I know so many of my fellow students from all the Ayrshire & Glasgow clubs, I felt it was a duty to come along and lend my support... that and it gave me another opportunity to get something written about you all! It was good to catch up with people I hadn't seen since the last grading or the 2013 Scottish Closed.

As always the standard from the Ayrshire clubs was very high and the kids in particular, even the whitebelts doing their first grading, were very enthusiastic. While a few nerves showed though here and there, everyone gave their all so again, well done!

I know there are a few people who read this blog from overseas or who maybe aren't familiar with a grading so here's a brief overview of the event. All grades lineout in grade order, white belts, yellow stripes, yellow belts etc. From here the rollcall is taken to make sure everyone who is grading is there. This is where its important to be on time, in fact its better to be a bit early. Also this is the section of the grading when knowledge of the theory part of the syllabus is tested. Each grade group being asked questions relevant up to and including their new belt.

White belts from left up to red on the right

Grades lined out

After this Mr Chahal will run through the grading process and in most cases a mock-grading with the white belts as they are usually the most nervous of the groups. Each instructor had a bit of a pep-talk with their students, mostly to tell them to relax and make sure their stances are correct or in my case... rising block... I'm always getting pulled up about that!

...and yes.. he was a white belt once!

Pep-talk from Mr Chahal

Then all the grades line out again and Mr Chahal will give a talk to everyone, again its usually to relax, watch your stances, show power. After this Mr McMillan will come in with Master Donnelly and then introduces all the senior grades and instructors to the students.

Grading about to start

Instructors & Master Donnelly

Mr McMillan introduces the top table

Instructors & Master Donnelly

From here the grading proper starts. Each grade group goes up in turn and Mr McMillan calls out for the students to do various linework exercises, patterns, step-sparring and in the case of some grades, free-sparring. I've included a few shots of the various grade groups below.

White belt group

Yellow tag group

Green tag group

Yellow belt group

Green belt group

Green belt kids

Blue tag kids

Blue tag group

Red tag & Red belt group

Blue belt group

This was another busy grading with 125 students being tested. Its a long day when you're starting at 9am and not finishing until 12:30pm but all the students, adults and kids alike, kept their patience and silence to allow their fellow students the peace to concentrate on what they were doing. Excellent examples of courtesy and integrity. Thank you from the instructors for keeping the noise down at the back and kids... well done on keeping your parents quiet :)

We started together, we finish together

Finally there were a few words from Mr McMillan and Master Donnelly. Mr McMillan praised all the students on the high standards but remember you can always improve so keep training and listening to your instructor. Master Donnelly thanked the parents for bringing their kids to training as kids, its these unsung "hero's"  that drive you to training or competitions or gradings. They sit and watch while you train and give up a lot of their own time in the process. On that note, parents; why not try a session? If you're sitting at the side watching you'll have a pretty good idea whats involved. TaeKwonDo can be, and is, a great family activity and it doesn't matter what age you are. Maybe after the Christmas and New Year would be a good time to start so speak to your local instructor.

Results of the grading will be announced at your next training session. Or if you're with "Santa" McRoberts you already know you all passed! Well done guys! A wee early Christmas present for you :)

For those of you who are friends of mine on FaceBook or are reading this from linked from either the Prestwick and Ayr or Phoenix FaceBook pages, the above photos and more are now up for viewing. I even had the chance to shoot some video clips of various groups doing patterns and step sparring but at time of writing I am having trouble uploading them.

Finally as 2013 draws to a close and we have our last few training sessions (no slacking now!), I'd like to wish you all a fantastic Christmas and New Year and remember top of your Christmas list should be "Santa: I'd like to go to every Open competition in 2014", just like mine says :)