Yesterday we had another of our more-or-less annual black belt tests at the Okinawan Karate Club of Dallas, the club Ilene Smoger and I co-founded in 1984. Frank Gannon and Sean Robinson marked the 49th and 50th students we've promoted to shodan (first degree black) over the years of our school. They were fitting examples, too; they are dedicated students and their test showed it. Over their careers at OKCD Sean has attended over 700 classes, and Frank over 1000! My remarks to each were, "Congratulations! Now get to work." Training in karate only really begins with one's black belt.
We also did a surprise promotion of three of our second-degree black belts (nidans), Wayne Murphy, Greg Chesley, and Michele Elefante to third-degree black (sandan). Well deserved!
As part of the testing tradition of our school, the testing board - nine yudansha (black belt ranks) strong - each also had to demonstrate something. We do this as a way to show that we have some reason to be up on the board beyond just being around long enough, and to keep us humble with the realization that we too could screw up :). Lots of video and photos were taken, and I'll post a few of these or links to them here.
My demonstration went off acceptably (no one was hurt), belts were distributed, photos were taken. Then we went home, turned around, and went to our annual (post) holiday party. We hold it just after the holidays to avoid the scheduling difficulties. It's always a great time; everyone knows and has trained with everyone else at one time or another, so you have a deeper bond than any casual party.
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