Red Belts

What a great feeling to see all your students attain their first achievement in your club. That is all the regular students who have been with me for 6months now got themselves a red belt and are not all officially 8th Kyu. I can see a huge difference in their training and how quickly each of them is picking up new skills. 6 months ago I remember facing a bunch of confused faces when I introduced something new to the group, but now they are eager for the challenge and always looking for the next new thing. I ask ‘Are you ready to try the next level'?’ and they are all ‘Osu!’

It is both the adults and the children, the kids are always so much fun to teach. To end last month - May 2025 - I did a bit of a challneging class and did three tanto defence techniques built from the kotagaeshi we had learned last month - Sumi Otoshi and Sokumen Iriminage. I didn’t think they would be able to learn them all in only one lesson, but to my surprise all the students were able to do each technique and all to a very high standard with little correction from me. In the end we finished with a Kakari Geiko where the students were challenged to face 3 attackers in a row and use each of the new techniques. They all pretty much managed to do it!

I am no looking forward to getting ready for our clubs 1st Anniversary Embukai in August.