Inubis

I have a recently graded 3rd kyu in her early 20s. She's very quiet and has always hated free sparring, including no pre-arrangement partner work. She always tries to get out of it. This was ok at first but when she was like, blue and purple belt and still terified of fighting it became an issue. Now at 3rd kyu she will fight when I call for sparring but she always tries to partner up with younger students or much lower grades, white belts etc. I keep telling her she will never improve unless she combats her fear of sparring. I'm reluctant to grade her any further until she over-comes this barrier. How would you handle this? has anyone ever experienced this?

As an instructor, when new students begin to train with you, can you usually tell who will stick with it up to the higher belts and who'll give up in the early days? Have you ever been wrong? I once had a young boy begin training with us and he was brilliant, he had a natural talent for karate and he soaked up what he was taught like a sponge. I always swore he'd make 1st dan but he gave up as soon as he graded to green belt. Another boy joined us years ago, big lad, very clumsy, uncoordinated, easily frustrated...I gave him 2 months...this was five years ago and he's currently 1st kyu training for 1st dan. I've given up guessing but sometimes I just can't help secretly betting in my head who will give up and who will go all the way.