Grading Day returned to the USKA Fight Factory today, with 37 dedicated students testing for belts ranging from Red Belt (1st Grade) to Brown Belt (9th Grade).
Today marked the welcomed return of USKA Chief Instructor Neil Kelly to the grading panel assisted by Female Division Senior Instructor Ruqayya Griffith.
Neil and Ruqayya's 8th Dan combined experience and high expectations brought a renewed sense of focus and discipline to the day’s proceedings.
With such experienced eyes overseeing the assessments, candidates were under close scrutiny and held to strict standards to ensure they met the required level of technical proficiency if they were going to earn their new belts.
In the build up for this examination, a considered decision was made to postpone grading for many students for whom we felt over recent times had neglected their basic fundamentals of stances, guards, pivots and exchanges.
Bad habits had set in and in the interest of maintaining our high bar and standards, those students would need additional time to refine their basics before progressing.
While this may have been disappointing for some, it reflects our commitment to doing things the right way at USKA and in the long run it is sure to pay dividends and will benefit all the students concerned with a solid Kickboxing base to build on.
For the Students that did grade the assessment was a challenging test of both syllabus knowledge and practical ability, spanning a total of 4 1/2 hours (5 1/2 hours including the preparatory warm-up class).
For those that were successful you can tie those new belts around your waist with pride knowing you have truly earned and deserve those new grades.
Special mentions today to our Star A Graders in Muhammad-Hashim Ali (Red Belt 93/A-), Ahmed Iqbal Kousar (Red Belt 91/A-), Mohammed Adam Hussain (Red Belt 92/A-), Ismaeel Zaman (White Belt 94/A-), Yaasseer-Yaahyaa Younis (White Belt 93/A-), Abdur Rahman Khan (White Belt 96/A), Rayaan Ellahi (Orange Belt 92/A-) and an almost perfect Sami Kelly (Brown Belt 99/A).
Well done to everyone on their effort today and big thank you to examiners Neil and Ruqayya for their time and attention conducting the grading to such a high standard.
The next General Grading date has been marked in for 20th September for anyone interested in working toward their next coloured belt. Please check our website events page nearer the time for further details.
