Your first grading!

[evergrey]

Hi everyone!

So, I would love to hear stories about the first time you formally went up for rank. How did you feel? How did it go? Did it turn out the way you expected it to?

I'll share my story in a bit. :}

OSU!

[ninjanurse]

At my first grading (TSD) I was asked to do my form and then there was some discussion....I was immediately worried! They then asked me if I knew the next form-which I knew and performed. After the test my instructor told me they had double graded me!!!!

[Nevinyrral]

When I was grading in shotokan, I was skiping one grade, and of course if I would fail I would end up with nothing so I was really nervous( some said my face was as pale as my gi) Well I did most correct, but I mistook yoko geri kekomi with kaege, but I passed. I was so happy

[evergrey]

I'd never been to a formal Kyokushin grading before, so of course I acted like some feral animal that wandered into the feast-hall, haha! Okay, not so bad as that, but I had no idea that when the highest ranking person goes from normal cross-legged sitting to seiza, everyone was supposed to follow suit! I forgot to bow into the ring for my kata. I was shaking fit to fall into a million pieces. I knew immediately that not eating before grading was the right idea, because otherwise I would have thrown it all up!

My kata was so not my best. I was too nervous. Too tense. But I remembered my horsemanship mentor, that 4th dan in aikido, telling me to not fear failure, to accept that I will fail and learn from it, and to also not cling to failure, but continue to live in the moment, leaving the failure behind you, instead planning for the future. Makes sense, because otherwise if you are riding and you stick with the failure behind you, you'll fall right off the horse with it! So I kect going, acting like I did nothing wrong. Shihan sighed loudly at the end of it. I heard another judge say "well, at least that's over with."

Feeling crushed and defeated, I sat and watched the ranking. Knee injury was screaming at me, and I was trying to not make waves by sitting differently. Hah.

I watched all the kids kumite matches, and then it was time for the adults. Once again it was my turn first, and who did they call up bit that buff black belt, over a foot taller than I am, and 17 years old to my 30. fit to my rather fat. Male, and I a woman.

The black belt who had straight up punched me in the head the last time, in a friendly sparring match in a style that doesn't allow head punches. So yeah, I sure remembered him.

The fight itself was kind of saw. He controlled my lead arm so effectively... he moved faster than I did. My blocks meant nothing to him, Not sure my punches and kicks meant much more to him either. I got slaughtered, for sure. He just punched my head, over and over. And I felt so lost because it's Kuokushin training which doesn't involve head shots. But there he is, wailing away at my noggin. I started to figured out that getting way inside the guard of this dude and uppercuts might have an effect when the whistle blowed. I made a frustrated marge simpson kinda growl as I walked away from him.

And then I really really DID feel crushed. Because I hadn't won that fight, no way!

And then I went to the car with sensei and burst into tears. He looked at me and said "why are you crying...when you passed?"

It took a day for me to realize that the kumite wasn't to see how well I'd beat him. It was to see my technique and how mu spirit holds up in the ace of impossible odds. Do I have enough of a fighting spirit?

Sensei wiped the tears from my face and told me that sometimes the point of it all is that sometimes, you fail. And you can choose to get up and keep trying.

He said, "Kohai, do you really think that anyone there expecter you, a white belt, to beat a black belt? I mean, seriously? You did think that!" and then he laughed some more.

We'll see if I passed or not on Tuesday.

I might rank up after all.

[sensei8]

First of all, please allow me to congratulate you, no matter how premature, so...CONGRATS!!

My very first grading almost became my last grading. Why? I literally wet myself!! Just as soon as my Dai-Soke barked at me...I wet myself. Wet gi pants and all, I ran home, totally embarrassed. I was only 7 years old. Even now, I'm embarrassed in sharing my first grading because it wasn't my most proudest moment.

How did I feel? I wasn't scared at all, no, I was totally and utterlly PETRIFIED!!

How did it go? It didn't...well...I did...all over the front of my gi pants.

Did it turn out the way you expected it to? Ahhhh...no...it didn't. It's bad enough to have had a public wetting display, but it's even worse because just as soon as I had wet myself, I didn't even complete the grading, no, I ran home immediately, and I didn't even bow out. I didn't have to I guess because I left a trail behind me.

Ok...now I've got to put a bag over my head!! Total shame!!

[evergrey]

OSU Bob,

And look at what you overcame, how far you've come! Very few people in the world can really say they have accomplished so much in the martial arts as you have.

So the lesson is, if you fall, you can still pick yourself up and brush yourself off. Even if it feels like the end of the world at the time, things change. We can all adapt, improvise, overcome!

So hold your head high! So many people would have given up forever, taken that humiliation and let it shape them. Become the humiliation, instead of the potential warrior that was inside of them.

Bravery is not a case of not feeling afraid. Fear is a kind of wisdom. Without any fear, we can do some truly stupid things indeed!

Bravery is being afraid and doing it anyway. Sometimes it takes a little time to overcome that fear and do it. Sometimes it's a lot of work. Sometimes one has to mature a bit more- after all, you were only 7 years old!

But you did overcome it. You overcame it, and in turn you became a teacher, a guide, a mentor, for many people, including I bet scared young children who were a lot like you were. You touched so many lives... and continue to touch them!

And finally, you have the courage and strength of character to tell the world the story that you just did. That is very, very brave. Brave enough that I think it sure makes up for running out of the dojo with wet gi pants as a little kid!

OSU!

[sojobo]

First of all, please allow me to congratulate you, no matter how premature, so...CONGRATS!!

My very first grading almost became my last grading. Why? I literally wet myself!! Just as soon as my Dai-Soke barked at me...I wet myself. Wet gi pants and all, I ran home, totally embarrassed. I was only 7 years old. Even now, I'm embarrassed in sharing my first grading because it wasn't my most proudest moment.

How did I feel? I wasn't scared at all, no, I was totally and utterlly PETRIFIED!!

How did it go? It didn't...well...I did...all over the front of my gi pants.

Did it turn out the way you expected it to? Ahhhh...no...it didn't. It's bad enough to have had a public wetting display, but it's even worse because just as soon as I had wet myself, I didn't even complete the grading, no, I ran home immediately, and I didn't even bow out. I didn't have to I guess because I left a trail behind me.

Ok...now I've got to put a bag over my head!! Total shame!!

Hehe,

I guess in this case, your sig says it all... "The proof is on the floor"

Sojobo

[Jeffrey]

First of all, please allow me to congratulate you, no matter how premature, so...CONGRATS!!

My very first grading almost became my last grading. Why? I literally wet myself!! Just as soon as my Dai-Soke barked at me...I wet myself. Wet gi pants and all, I ran home, totally embarrassed. I was only 7 years old. Even now, I'm embarrassed in sharing my first grading because it wasn't my most proudest moment.

How did I feel? I wasn't scared at all, no, I was totally and utterlly PETRIFIED!!

How did it go? It didn't...well...I did...all over the front of my gi pants.

Did it turn out the way you expected it to? Ahhhh...no...it didn't. It's bad enough to have had a public wetting display, but it's even worse because just as soon as I had wet myself, I didn't even complete the grading, no, I ran home immediately, and I didn't even bow out. I didn't have to I guess because I left a trail behind me.

Ok...now I've got to put a bag over my head!! Total shame!!

Hehe,

I guess in this case, your sig says it all... "The proof is on the floor"

Sojobo

Holy man, I'm so sorry Bob and I know what your saying really means but this was so darn funny I can't stop laughing. Sojobo that was the funniest thing I've read here in a long time.

[Kruczek]

I have almost no recollection of it. They asked me things like "name of our sensei" "name of our school" and I knew the right answers, but didnt fully grasp anything but what I knew I should say.

I did our basic form, some kicks, punches, etc. Even for 9th Kyu, we had 3 black belts grade it and they all had a little score sheet to mark what we needed to improve. We never saw the sheet, was for their benefit I guess. I was a little nervous, but mostly just so new to it, I didn't know what to expect.

[Blade96]

I posted about my first grading here before and now i can't find my thread