BackHSTS STUDENTS VIEW AT BLACK BELT GRADING

Pre-Grading Lesson

Instructors : Mr Glenn Horan VI Dan and Mr Darrin Bonfield V Dan.

All students lined up in grade order as they would in any other lesson.  After the oath, students were asked to relax and sit down as Mr Horan & Mr Bonfield explained the day’s format and the reason for the pre-grading lesson.

It was explained that the purpose of the pre-grading lesson is for the students to dispose of any nerves that they may be feeling and for the instructors to take a last look at all the individuals, iron out any imperfections that there may be, and if they felt that a student wasn’t prepared enough or technically ready for the grading, then they would be advised of this before the actual grading took place.

The lesson started with a run through of patterns in the instructor’s time first, then in the students own time. During and after each pattern, Mr Horan & Mr Bonfield would address the group to advise of common errors, or errors being made during the fundamental movements. This showed a great understanding and similar thought between the two instructors.

The class was then taken through a series of fundamental movements after the patterns again with feedback being given from the instructors. This included where the attacking and defending tools should be coming from and finishing, along with attention to stances and turning.

Mr Horan then took the 1^st Dan and above to go through their patterns whilst Mr Bonfield took the rest of the students trough 3 step, 2 step, 1 step sparring, releasing and self defence, dedicating time to each pairing to give advice and tuition where needed and if necessary addressing the group as a whole, with particular attention to the importance of stances for different types of blocks.

After a short break, it was onto the kick shields to run through the kicking required for the grading.

The morning was finished off with Sparring, one on one and two on one free sparring.

Before breaking for lunch, Mr Horan & Mr Bonfield spoke with the class regarding the meaning and purpose of Taekwon-Do, along with the importance of the elements of the theory of power, and how if they are not all brought together at the right time, the task of achieving maximum power is reduced dramatically, therefore making the task of breaking more difficult.

Grading

Examiners:

Mr Glenn Horan VI Dan,  Mr Darrin Bonfield V Dan,  Mr Owen IV Dan             

All students lined up in grade order and after the formalities the class split to sit either end of the hall.

The grading started with patterns, the junior 1^st Kup students being called first, followed by adult 1^st Kup then 1^st Dan & 2^nd Dan. Each set of students performed all the relevant patterns in one visit.

After patterns the 1^st Kup students performed three, two and one step sparring, followed by the 1^st & 2^nd Dan students performing foot and one step sparring, self defence including take downs.

1st Kup students were recalled to perform self defence and releases. After a while Mr Horan swapped some pairings to mix up the size and sex to see how the students thought process and choice of release or direct attack would differ.

All grades then put their pads on for one on one free sparring, changing partners after a period of time.

This was followed by breaking into groups of three for two on one free sparring.

After the sparring, all Senior 1^st Kup grades went to one end of the hall, and were called to the examiners table two at a time for the theory. This was taken by Mr Bonfield and Mr Owen, whilst Mr Horan (assisted by 1^st Dan’s) assessed and marked the Junior breaking.

This was then reversed for the adult students to break, in the order of turning, reverse turning, flying side piercing kick and choice of hand technique on breaking boards.

These breaks were followed by a chosen hand technique to attempt a break on a brick of their choice; if the attempt wasn’t successful Mr Horan asked if they would like a second attempt.

After the junior students had completed their theory, the 1^st & 2^nd Dan were asked questions on their Theory, before completing their breaking.

With the Grading now complete, it was only left for the Students to line up in grade order, and Mr Horan to read out the names of those that passed and their scores achieved.

John Lavery 1^st Dan