We anticipated it would be a quiet September grading at the USKA Fight Factory coming out of the Summer Holidays but it was anything but today when just shy of 60 USKA students showed up to attempt their next coloured belts.
We had a wide spectrum of students in attendance on our General Grading ranging from 8 years old to 50 years old attempting belts from Red Belt (1st Grade) to Junior Black Belt (10th Grade).
Settling in for a long day on the mats with Grading examiners USKA Chief Instructor Neil Kelly and USKA Female Division Senior Instructor Ruqayya Griffith watching closely to make sure that everyone was on point and up to speed with all of their syllabus criteria.
After the 7 hour grading (8 hours if you include the 1 hour warm up grading preparation class) we are pleased to report that we had 100% pass rate today with everyone reaching the prescribed level.
There is always room for improvement of course and things everyone has to work on but for today at least it is time for celebration.
Special mention to our A Star Graders Zaakir Ali (Red Belt 91 / A-), Callum Bagshaw (Red Belt 96 / A), Aairah Mohammad (Yellow Belt 93 / A-), Musa Khan (Yellow Belt 91 / A-), Abdur Rahman Khan (Yellow Belt 96 / A), Julia Glowacz (Junior Black Belt 92 / A-) and Sami Kelly (Junior Black Belt 99 / A).
Amazing results, a big well done to all of you.
We would also like to give a special acknowledgment and congratulations to two of our highest graders today in Julia Glowacz and Sami Kelly who successfully passed their Junior Black Belts.
Just one more belt to go for both of them until they join the ranks of a very exclusive club indeed as fully fledged USKA Black Belts.
Can we say a Big thank you to examiners Neil and Ruqayya who worked hard and got everyone ready for their gradings and who sat through the long day conducting the examination.
We go again tomorrow for our Female Division Grading and again next week when our USKA Ninja's attempt their next belts.
Once again, well done everyone!
