First Grading Tips

[June1]

Hello, all!

 

This Sunday will be my very first grading. I'm going for yellow belt! Now, I know that I'll probably be fine, but I'm still kind of freaked out. There are always so many people there!! Those parents, with their cameras, really freak me out.

 

Anyway, I was wondering if anyone would care to post their first grading experience, and if you have any tips for me, that would be awesome (I'm always insanely nervous before anything and don't want to end up barfing beforehand, though I probably will).

 

Thank you!!

[cross]

and if you have any tips for me

 

Easy to say but sometimes hard to do : RELAX.

 

Just remember, you wont be doing anything new at the grading. Its just a repetition of all the training you have already done. If you have worked hard in your training you wont have any problems.

 

Oh, and good luck.

[P.A.L]

here is my first test in shindo jenin ryu,

 

around 10 people tested from 10th kyu to 1th kyu

 

i wasa 10th kyu(although i was a brown belt in shorin ryu)

 

1- we did basics , i was very bad on that part

 

2- we did wazas ,i did ok

 

3- we did bunkai , i was so so

 

4- we did kata , i did Naihanchi(tekki) shodan from shorin ryu and pinan shodan(nidan in shorin) of shindo jenin ryu, I had a broken fibula on that time and was not able to perform the kata strongly i just did the correct moves.

 

5- we sparred , i won both 3 points matches against a 1st kyu and a 6kyu .they promoted me to 4th kyu.

 

that was pretty funny ,i was at the back of the line the next day i was behind the black belts.

 

my tip. don't you worry for anything.

[June1]

Awww. Thank you!

 

By the way, how did you break your fibula??

[AngelaG]

Effort, effort, effort!

 

Kiai loudly, and act confident (even if you don't feel it). Half of it is about convincing them that you believe you are ready for the next belt.

 

Try your best and no one can ever fault you.

 

Best of luck!

[username4141]

eek, I've got my first grading on friday, and I hear tell that Sensei Andy Sherry's running it. Should I be as intimidated as I am after having read his bio? Oh, and what's kime? Should I worry about it?

[cross]

and what's kime? Should I worry about it?

 

Kime means 'focus point'. Its basically the point in time, usually at the end of the technique where all your power is focused.

 

I doubt you will be judged on your kime(or lack thereof) in your first grading, but keep it in mind for future training.

[username4141]

Cheers! Will do!

[aefibird]

June1 and DesertBeagle, good luck to you both for your gradings!

 

Look confident and you'll probably feel more confident too.

 

Don't worry if you make a mistake - keep going. Chances are, they may not even have noticed it.

 

If you do make a mistake and then subsequently beat your chest, wail in anguish and declare yourself to be the worst karateka in the world then the grading panel will probably think less of you than if you keep going and try and act like nothing wrong happened! Bit of an exaggeration there, but I think you get what I mean...

 

Make sure you get a good nights sleep beforehand and drink plenty of water and have a good breakfast on the day of your test. When I was testing for my 9th kyu there was a girl there who fainted - she hadn't eaten because she was so nervous and she didn't have the energy to make it through the training session beforehand and then the grading afterwards.

 

Try to keep calm and relax! I know....easy advice to give, difficult to take. I was always a nervous wreck at my karate gradings, but they were never as bad as I'd hyped them up in my mind to be. Not even the "dreaded blackbelt test" was as bad as I thought it was going to be once I got into it.

[cross]

Don't worry if you make a mistake - keep going. Chances are, they may not even have noticed it.

 

Just adding to that comment by aefibird. My instructor always says that even if you do the wrong technique never do it half hearted. So always do your best with each and every technique, even if you know its the wrong one.