By Stephanie Thom - Brown Belt
When we arrived at the Greenacres dojo, I saw the foyer was full of people – I thought the hall might have been double booked! But no, it was all the students come for their examination, with their families. It’s really great to see how much encouragement families give to the students, supporting their efforts by coming along to watch them do their exams.
I know from experience that exams can be scary, especially that first one, going from white to blue, and having someone with you makes it easier, and more special.
The first exam was the white to blue, and there were some faces I found familiar, but many more students I have never seen. It really showed me how big our club is, and how many dojos we have. There was a large number of students being examined for their blue belt, from very young to almost teens, and they all did a great job. They looked nervous at the start, but once they began their warm up they all seemed to calm down – it’s just like another training session! I was really impressed with their exam, especially some of the smallest students who did some great techniques. They all looked very happy at the end with their new blue belts. I bet they can’t wait to get back to class and start learning all their new moves!
The blue to green exam was great to watch. All the students worked really hard, especially the one adult who was being examined with the juniors – he was made to work twice as hard as everyone else. The kata was especially good to watch because blue belts have to present two quite difficult kata, Combination Routine and Naihanchin, to earn their green belt. The standard was very good, especially Naihanchin, which needs a lot of strength. The rounds of sparring were really exciting, the students put in a lot of effort and were moving very fast with their footwork and techniques.
My favourite part of the exam was the first Iaido examination. I have never seen anyone using a sword before, and it was wonderful to watch. There were three students being examined, and it all looked very impressive with all of them dressed in their hakamas,
carrying long, rather lethal looking swords. They had to demonstrate drawing the sword, cutting, and putting it back in the saya, while standing, kneeling and moving. The swords make an amazing whistling noise when they are cutting, it was fun to hear. They also demonstrated two kata – which are called waza in Iaido – one from a kneeling position and one standing, drawing and cutting while moving forward. They have to flick their sword before they put it back in the saya, I’m told that is to flick off any blood that is on the blade before it is put away. I thought that was rather gruesome!
Coming to watch an exam that I wasn’t being examined at was great fun, and makes me more determined to work hard and get to my next exam, so I can have all those scary feelings, do all that hard work, and have all the pleasure and excitement of earning a brand new belt.
Photos of the examination are available in the Photo Gallery.