Thank you to all the students and Instructors who attended our first Brown and Black Belt Course of the year.

The atmosphere was buzzing and everyone worked hard, so hard in fact Paul Sensei actually opened the door!

Thanks to all who helped put out the mats and clear them away at the end.

We covered Dan Grading Combinations and Katas for Shodan and Nidan. Paul Sensei then took us through a number of different kumite drills giving you all some fresh ideas for counters in your Jiyu Ippon and then we finished off with some free sparring.

It was another great event supported by you. We really appreciate all your energy and effort. Extra practise always pays off, so well done to all who rolled out of bed on a Sunday to work on their fitness, wellness and karate!

There was a handful of very nervous students training and waiting to retake sections and complete their Dan gradings.

As always, we are one family who stick together and the support from everyone else was just what they needed to keep them going and get the job done.

We are delighted to report that the following students passed their sections and have made the required improvement. We always like to say a few words about each person as they complete their journey to black belt and beyond!

Caroline Wood - Shodan

We have another terrific trio of black belts! The Wood family are now a complete set of black belts. Kirsten was first, Danika second and now Caroline and we love to see it! Caroline’s karate journey has been a long one with many ups and downs. You can see the time and the dedication that she has put into her karate over the years. Caroline is so hardworking and rarely misses a class. She is a wonderful and supportive person to have in the club and is always so proud of everyone else’s achievements. Well it’s your turn this time Caroline, I do hope that you are enormously proud of yourself because you deserve this recognition and worked hard for your belt. You showed us a greater range of techniques in your kumite and the steely determination we were looking for. We couldn’t be more pleased for your lovely girls and we could see just how much it meant to you all. Gary Sensei and Jo Sensei were tremendously proud of you too! Well done team Darwen, that’s another Black belt in the books!

Thomas Dolan - Nidan

It was a day for completing the sets! Thomas now joins Dad John Sensei, Mum Helen Sensei and twin brother Liam as a Nidan Black Belt. They’ve only gone and done the quadruple! The first family of four to achieve Nidan. What an incredible achievement by a much loved and well-respected RTK family. Thomas has come such a long way with his karate, but one thing has always been constant - his commitment. He is always at training without fail, quietly plugging away and making progress. He was unlucky last time around, massive occasion, so many people watching I don’t think he quite managed to show the best of himself. He was so disappointed but has put in the work. He was straight back in the dojo putting things right. This time around, he was excellent. Really fiery and determined. He looked more confident, moved better and has worked on his control. Half of the battle in the kumite is confidence and believing that you can land techniques. He was picking his shots, rather than panicking, using combinations and countering when the opportunity arose. Much, much better and we love to see it. We have had to pleasure of watching Thomas grow up into a lovely young man with strong family attachments and a bright future ahead of him. I do hope that this will boost your confidence. Congratulations Thomas and well done Team Dolan. An extraordinary achievement indeed.

Meg Fu - Nidan

What a student Meg Fu is. She’s enormously talented and breezed through all of her gradings up to this one. We were so gutted for her when last time around. She performed brilliantly in the Kihon section and showed great improvement in her kumite. Then came the Kata section and she just hit the dreaded wall. Since then she has been resolute and determined to finish what she started and prove to us that she still has beautiful Kata and can keep her focus. It was an easy pass for us. Excellent Junro Sandan, super sharp, she moved well and everything had been practiced to within and inch of its life! We could see the nerves were still there as it could have been paced out a little better, but overall, she smashed it. It goes without saying that we are all delighted for you and tremendously proud. But I do hope you feel extremely proud of yourself. It has been a pleasure to watch you grow up into a strong, confident and capable young woman. It is not easy to experience failure when you are so used to success, but the way you came back from it is inspirational. Straight back in the dojo, giving your all and putting on a performance THAT good - you are a true Nidan and proved it to everyone. Well done. Maisie next!

Isaac Jepson - Nidan

Isaac is another student who excels at karate. He never fails to give it 100% and is always looking for ways to improve. He is so powerful and has the confidence to match his physical ability. It was another surprise that he ended up on the retakes list as the examiners felt that he could make further improvement. Since going to university in Bangor he has continued to train at a club local to him, but regularly makes trips back up north to train on courses and in classes. You have to admire this dedication and commitment to his development. Isaac was asked to perform Kata Jion in front of the panel and his perfromance was excellent. Everything we would expect out of a young man in his prime. It was dynamic and sharp, he looked more relaxed, the lines were spot on and his stances were lower. He pushed himself out of his comfort zone and rather than placing his techniques like last time, he was moving faster and using explosive power. It was honestly so much better and you proved that you were capable of more. What I admire most about Isaac is that he has unshakeable self belief. He knows what he wants to achieve and is not afraid to do the work required to get it. This will not only take him far in karate, but also in his life. Well done Isaac, we are really happy for you and proud to have graded you. We need to see your Dad next!

Brendan Conyard - Nidan

Brendan has been training with us for well over ten years. He is one of our longest serving members. Like many adults Brendan started with his excellent daughter Ellen and they journeyed all the way to black belt together. Brendan has continued to train towards his Nidan and is a pleasure to teach. He is such a lovely chap to have in the dojo with a wicked sense of humour. He is so dedicated (around his well deserved holidays) and is always at class without fail. He assists in our Cheadle Hulme class and is great with the students. We were all gutted when he ‘hit the wall’ in the Kata section in November. He just couldn’t get back on track and we asked him to retake the section. He has been practising his Junro Nidan and it was much improved on the day. We are delighted for Brendan that he was able to finish what he started and is now one of our Nidans. We will even change his name as requested to Bre-Nidan to honour this great achievement. Well done!

Jon Curtis Sensei - Nidan at the first attempt.

Jon Sensei was unfortunately unable to make the Dan grading in November and we were pleased when he said he felt able to give it a go at the B and B Course. Because Jon Sensei has excellent karate. He is a great all rounder and has solid and strong karate. It was fantastic for the brown and black belts to see Jon Sensei take his grading and set the standard for others to follow. We are proud to have him as one of our Sensei’s and is performance was exactly what we expected. What we see from him every single week, he works so SO hard and has high level, top quality karate. The grading panel really made him work for his grade as he had to complete all the grading sections back to back with no time to rest in between. We wanted to challenge him and he rose to the challenge. His Katas were sharp and dynamic and his Jion actually scored better than his tokki Kata. That is when you know somebody is the real deal. We could have asked him to do any of the Katas and he would have done it with power, focus and to a high-level of skill. There simply aren’t any weak areas of Jon Sensei’s karate to be found. He is a formidable kumite opponent, he approached each round with skill, control and power. If a student can land anything on Sensei Callum, then that is a pass! And Jon Sensei managed to do it. His Kihon was also excellent. The Stockton Heath area and it’s students are thriving because of Jon Sensei and his brilliant children Joey and Callula. They are leading by example and doing it all right. Well done Jon Sensei, we look forward to seeing what you can do for sandan!