A month of preparation, plenty of hard work and one big test at the end of it all as 31 of our youngest USKA students took to the mats today for our latest Ninja’s Grading Examination at the USKA Fight Factory.
Over the past few weeks our classes have been heavily focused on getting our Ninja’s ready for this moment, making sure they knew exactly what would be expected of them when grading day arrived.
Today it was time to put all of that practice into action!
At USKA, belts are never simply handed out. Every new grade has to be earned, and our Ninja’s were certainly made to work for theirs during a demanding 90 minute examination.
The grading tested them in a number of different areas, beginning with relay race fitness drills before moving into syllabus line work, Kickboxing padwork and finally an exercise circuit to see who could keep pushing when the tiredness started to kick in.
And if that wasn’t challenging enough, they had to do it all with an audience!
With family and friends watching from the sidelines, our Ninja’s had the added pressure of performing in front of a crowd. For children of such a young age, this is a fantastic confidence building experience and an important part of learning how to perform when all eyes are on you.
We couldn’t have been happier with what we saw.
The improvement across the group over the last month was clear to see, with some brilliant performances throughout the grading and our Ninja’s showing exactly why we had been so impressed with them during their preparation.
A huge congratulations goes to everyone who successfully earned their new belt today!
We also have to give an extra special mention to 9 year old Abdurrahman Nadeem, who had the honour of being our only Blue Belt candidate on the day.
With nobody else alongside him to share the spotlight, Abdurrahman had to complete his grading with all eyes firmly on him. He handled the pressure brilliantly, successfully passed his USKA Ninja’s Blue Belt and in doing so completed the USKA Ninja’s syllabus in fantastic style.
What a great achievement, well done Abdurrahman!
Finally, a massive thank you must go to our Ninja’s Instructors and Junior Coaches who conducted and assisted throughout today’s examination. The time, patience and effort you put into helping our youngest students develop week after week is hugely appreciated and days like today wouldn’t be possible without you.
One grading down... and just one more to go in 2026!
Our final USKA Ninja’s Grading of the year is booked for Saturday 28th November, giving our Ninja’s plenty of time to get back to work and begin chasing that next belt.
For now though, enjoy this one, you earned it!
