Help!! Advice on grading

Fiona Cronin

I am going for my blackbelt in shotokan karate soon. Anybody have any advice on the physical and mental prep needed?

Dyr

emm... dont do what i did and go off on the rip the weekend before it.. :rolleyes:

dont know anything about shotokan but im guessing fitness fitness fitness for any bb test

Millionaire

would it make sense to revise all your kata from from henian 1 throu to what is it 8??? and basic techniques. and fitness too?


On the mental side, Visualise yourself in great detail and full colour doing everything in an outstanding manner. Really see hear and feel yourself performaning excellent! (there some free NLP advice for you !)

Damo W

Fiona Cronin wrote:

I am going for my blackbelt in shotokan karate soon. Anybody have any advice on the physical and mental prep needed?

Hi Fiona,

When is soon, how much time do you have to prepare, do you use a grading syllabus, what have previous yudansha gradings been like, will you be on your own or in a group for the grading?

All kyu gradings are steps towards the dan grading, the techniques remain the same although the combinations differ, consider the feed back you received from your last few kyu gradings and know your syllabus 'inside out' but in my experiences the syllabus is only a guide...

Damien

memphis

I'm far from going for my Dan grade (in TKD) but simply.....know your stuff!! What I mean by that is know what is expected to be coming up, with the more likely being, all your kata's. Know the theory, know various combinations, and techniques.

Relax and enjoy it! Best of luck!

Cake Fiend

What organization out of curiosity? Often orgs will have their particular syllabus for each grade on a website, or your instructor will be able to tell you. Have you seen previous BB gradings in your org? The first black belt exam I saw in my club was very reassuring - it was just like any kyu grade exam I had ever taken, purely testing technique (more advanced obviously) without any pointless extra crap thrown in (pushups, crazy sparring, etc etc). When I go for my (impendingly looming :eek:) dan grade, I know that if my technique is up to scratch, I'll pass. I won't need to worry about being caught out or tricked like some orgs try to do.

And bear in mind that your instructor should already know whether you're going to pass or not. If they recommended you go for your black belt, it means they think you're of black belt standard. Might help the nerves

memphis wrote:

Relax and enjoy it!

:eek: Easier said than done!

Roper

My best advice would be to relax and remember that if you pass or fail you're no better or worse than you were before. It's just an exam, and like most exams, they're just snapshots of you on that day at that time and not indicative of your ability.

Good luck.

Naos

Millionaire wrote:

would it make sense to revise all your kata from from henian 1 throu to what is it 8??? and basic techniques. and fitness too?


On the mental side, Visualise yourself in great detail and full colour doing everything in an outstanding manner. Really see hear and feel yourself performaning excellent! (there some free NLP advice for you !)

True.. But dont forget to visualise from INSIDE yourself, as in looking out through your eyes and not looking at yourself from a 3rd person view...

Good luck fiona.

Rev Hellfire

Have a few beers before hand to calm your nerves.
*this may not be the best of ideas.

dlofnep

Rev Hellfire wrote:

*this may not be the best of ideas.

I play pool better after a few pints. Who knows?

rainbow kirby

Just relax and try not to get panicked too much.
And for the love of god, don't get injured a couple of days before the grading! (I hurt my shin 3 days before my TKD black belt grading... getting through the grading took a lot of painkillers and grimacing...)
And best of luck with the grading!

NWM

Fiona - are you SKI? If so I've a lot of info/opinions I can give you (email is better).

Fiona Cronin

Damo W wrote:

Hi Fiona,

When is soon, how much time do you have to prepare, do you use a grading syllabus, what have previous yudansha gradings been like, will you be on your own or in a group for the grading?

All kyu gradings are steps towards the dan grading, the techniques remain the same although the combinations differ, consider the feed back you received from your last few kyu gradings and know your syllabus 'inside out' but in my experiences the syllabus is only a guide...

Damien

Damien,
Soon as in 6mts mebbe more to me thats a short time!! Im a 2nd kyu grading for 1st in a week but well prepared.(hopin to pass!!) I am studing syllabus for dan grading at the mo. I see my grading for 3rd brown as a pre-dan test as i have the same syllabus for both jus an extra 4 katas. (i know two of them already)

I hope to be with others but at the mo noone in my club is a my level so i train in a club in the next town (less than an hour away my sensei trains this club too) because there are similar leveled people to me there and this club is grading at the same time and place as ours.
Fiona

Fiona Cronin

Sico wrote:

What organization out of curiosity?

FSKD

pma-ire

Fiona Cronin wrote:

I am going for my blackbelt in shotokan karate soon. Anybody have any advice on the physical and mental prep needed?

you must be thinking like a black belt now! you must make sure that you are comfortable with all aspects of the syllabus required and eat sleep and drink it.

take a slow down period a month and a half or so of a week or two so that you don't burn out, and pace yourself to a peak point on the grading time.

good luck with your journey.

Clive

Just know the syllabus and be vaguely in some sort of shape. Don'r worry about it, it's pretty easy.

Damo W

Fiona Cronin wrote:

Damien,
Soon as in 6mts mebbe more to me thats a short time!! Im a 2nd kyu grading for 1st in a week but well prepared.(hopin to pass!!) I am studing syllabus for dan grading at the mo. I see my grading for 3rd brown as a pre-dan test as i have the same syllabus for both jus an extra 4 katas. (i know two of them already)

I hope to be with others but at the mo noone in my club is a my level so i train in a club in the next town (less than an hour away my sensei trains this club too) because there are similar leveled people to me there and this club is grading at the same time and place as ours.
Fiona

6 months will pass quiet quickly, a thorough knowledge of your syllabus is essential, the fundamental techniques do not change through your career, how they are performed will.

It has been my experience that karate-ka usually kyu grades have a firm understanding of techniques but suffer from a lack of fitness which causes a breakdown of technique, supplementary exercises ‘hojo undo’ should not be ignored but are not the ‘meat and potatoes’.

If you ‘angles and shotokan body mechanics’ are correct in kihon then it should transfer to kata etc. and the other way around etc. Kumite ‘jiu-kumite’ is slightly different but since all shotokan grades are stages to proficiency in ‘jiu-kumite’ there should be a synergetic effect. I assume there will be some sort of free sparring, restricted ‘shobu ippon’ rules?

I can’t comment on kata as each organisation has their own values and slight intricacies.

Although Clive rightly suggests being relaxed, which is essential for any exam I would not become complacent, try to get as many private/semi private classes with your instructor as you can possibly this might mean an extra half an hour after training if that is all that is available.

Arrange a ‘mock’ dan grading 3 months into that 6 and following feedback another in one months time. Focus your training to pass this exam.

Will there be a seminar/class before the exam, sometimes this can be important, consider any comments that are made during this time and implement them, consider the combinations shown.

It’s a great time and regardless of the outcome you should be proud of your achievement to date. Best of luck.

I have pm'ed you my e-mail for any specific questions you may have.

(One last question is it a junior or senior sho-dan grade your going for, sorry, hard to tell on message boards)

Damien

Fiona Cronin

Damo W wrote:

One last question is it a junior or senior sho-dan grade your going for, sorry, hard to tell on message boards

Damien

Well im under 18 so its probably a junior belt but im not so sure thanks you and everyone for your help i appreciate it very much
Fiona