And promotion to....1st kyu!

Discussion in 'Karate' started by armanox, Apr 30, 2008.

  1. armanox

    armanox Kick this Ginger...

    What a fun set of events for me Saturday through Monday. Saturday I participated in a tournament (US Eastern Regional Championships hosted by Tompkins Karate Association). I was in the under brown belt division (they combined beginner and intermediate mens divisions) for kata, sparring, and weapons. Fifth place kata, 15th place sparring, 3rd place weapons. Much fun.

    Monday night in class was a surpise to me. Sensei had called a friend of mine up from college (a 1st dan in Hapkido) to attend class, and also was surpised to find Mr. Jim Lilley (8th dan), Mr. Bruce Charity (7th dan) and Mr David Rees (3rd Dan) all present as well (in addition to the regulars, Dan Simons (7th dan), Mr. Will Adams (7th dan), and Mr Dick Kelly (6th dan). I was up for promotion. By the end of class, I was promoted from 4th kyu (green belt) to 1st kyu (brown belt). But, to end a long story, once again I had no idea that a promotion was coming, and also it coincidentally came right after I was in tournament.
     
  2. prowla

    prowla Valued Member

    That's some achievement - I've never heard of that happening before!
     
  3. Moosey

    Moosey invariably, a moose Supporter

    Well done! Being a 1st kyu is awesome! :D
     
  4. pauli

    pauli mr guillotine

    now you're in for it.

    there are many words i could use to describe being an ikkyu, but "awesome" probably isn't one i would choose. then again, i'm still trying to swim back down to sankyu...
     
  5. Moosey

    Moosey invariably, a moose Supporter

    I've found it's the first point where other (more senior) karateka start treating you like you might actually be good at karate. Obviously that can be a pretty painful prospect but, certainly in shotokan, the classes get way more interesting.
     
  6. pauli

    pauli mr guillotine

    for me, the problem is that it means that any suspiciously fun and intense class might end with me getting stuck with a black belt. having to watch out for that sorta kills the vibe.
     
  7. Moosey

    Moosey invariably, a moose Supporter

    Ah! I see what you mean! I guess you have a lot of pressure to always be on top form if any given class could be your grading class!
     
  8. Melanie

    Melanie Bend the rules somewhat.. Supporter

    Congratulations - now the real hard work begins :D
     
  9. Sam

    Sam Absent-ish member

    Aye welcome to the wonderful world of 1st Kyu. Congrats mate stick with it.
     
  10. armanox

    armanox Kick this Ginger...

    Thank you everyone. It feels funny looking down and seeing a brown belt tied around me instead of a green one. And, it's odd having a stiff belt. But, stiff belt syndrome goes away with time =).

    So said two of the black belts in class (Mr Dave: Now I really get to work you; Mr Frank (2nd dan): Congrats, now I don't have to take it easy on you)
     
  11. prowla

    prowla Valued Member

    1st kyu means you are deemed ready to train for black belt.

    (BTW, your picture is now out of date.)
     
  12. Hiroji

    Hiroji laugh often, love much

    Well done amigo! id still beat you in a real legal street fight though
     
  13. Fish Of Doom

    Fish Of Doom Will : Mind : Motion Supporter

    *sigh*

    MAN, now you're in for it :p

    congrats, but i'm going to be realistic and suggest a weight and conditioning routine for a couple of months. remember when you were a white belt, how it all seemed so hard and confusing? look at it now, and think about how much harder what you do now is compared to then. now multiply that difference by three, and you'll get the training you'll recieve by basically having skipped two belts.

    congratulations again, have in mind that easily less than 0.001 percent of people get to go up more than one belt at a time, but at the same time, my condolences, because you're REALLY in for it.
     
  14. armanox

    armanox Kick this Ginger...

    I guess the picture is indeed out of date. Guess it's time to dust off the digi cam, no?
     
  15. armanox

    armanox Kick this Ginger...

    Thank you for your advice. It's going to be an interesting ride now that I've gone from 4th kyu to 1st, so I may have some interesting stories to post because of that =).
     
  16. pauli

    pauli mr guillotine

    every class is a test, from the moment you put on that brown belt...
     
  17. Llamageddon

    Llamageddon MAP's weird cousin Supporter

    Congratulations! If you thought you knew pain...

    Being 1st kyu is a great laugh. Just expect to be pushed like you've never been pushed before. And you remember the time when even though you were doing the same techniques as the 1st dans but could get away with stuff because the sensei wasn't focusing on you? Well, watch that focus change now, matey boy!

    ;)
     
  18. Rhea

    Rhea Laser tag = NOT MA... Supporter

    Jeeeezus, well done! 3 grades at once?! Fantastic, and remember it's your duty to work a hell of a lot harder. Hence the reason I'm staying at 4th ;)
     
  19. marmaduke

    marmaduke Valued Member

    Congrats!

    I'm also curious. What style of Karate is yours? Mine, (Kwanmukan) would go from Green to Purple to Brown. Plus we have 4 stripes for each belt before finally getting to 1st Kyu. for me, that would be missing/bypassing 2yrs+ of training.
     
  20. armanox

    armanox Kick this Ginger...

    Kobayashi Shorin Ryu, under the Okinawan Shorin Ryu Karatedo Renmei.
    Ranking system is as follows:

    Below 4th kyu: White
    4th Kyu: Green
    3rd Kyu: Brown
    2nd kyu: Brown
    1st Kyu: Brown

    I held my green belt for 2 years 1 month, for the record.
     

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