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.
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...
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.
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.
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!
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)
*sigh* MAN, now you're in for it 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.
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 =).
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!
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
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.
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.