Grading 2 - 6th and 4th kyu exams

I've already written about the children's grading, now it's time to examine what can be learnt from an adult grading.

The adults' summer grading is not just a simple grading. For some it is a proper grading, while for others it is pre-exam. The reason for this is that the summer break mentioned in my previous post is there for a reason. When we finish trainings in Wimbledon for the summer, many of us go to Hungary every year to attend a one week training camp. In this camp, many of us are examined even for 6-5-4th kyu levels as, for a group of us, it is the only time of the year when Laszlo Elsner sensei (5th dan Aikikai) can see how much we improved and where we are in our development. So attending members of the 'distant club' of the Foundation can all show their current knowledge and level of technical expertise in aikido.

To come back to the grading held in our club in Wimbledon, those who can't attend the summer camp are examined here, for them it's a real test. Karesz can hold gradings up to 3rd kyu level. If you are grading for hakama (which is from 2nd kyu in our organisation) you have to grade in front of Elsner sensei so there is no way to escape him every time you want to grade :). People attending the camp and wanting to grade there (and they are not at 2nd kyu yet) have to grade locally as well. This acts as a filter so only those who are capable of producing good quality will be allowed to go and grade in Veszprem. Basically, whether it is your last training before the summer holidays or your last training before the camp in 35 degrees (but close to a lake :)) you have to work hard. The following are my personal thoughts about gradings for 6th and 4th kyu:

6th kyu

There were three people going for sixth kyu. They have been training with us for 4-6 months at least so they are supposed to be able to show a couple of moves and techniques. As this was their first aikido grading they needed to show the base steps (tsugi ashi, ayumi ashi, shikko dachi, taisabaki, etc.), rolls (mae ukemi and ushiro ukemi) and several techniques, mostly from aihanmi katatedori. Being the first level to achieve through an exam, 6th kyu doesn't need to be perfect, just enough to show some potential to develop your techniques and yourself. At this level, the usual questions and problems that come up seem to be the following (based solely on the observation of the currently described grading):

 - which attack is aihanmi katatedori?
 - which one is ikkyo ura and which one is ikkyo omote?
 - should I give my hand to uke differently when doing ikkyo or shihonage?
 - who determines whether we are both in hidari hanmi or migi hanmi: uke or tori?

When we were watching the grading, these were my ideas about what they were thinking. Obviously, they were all nervous as they had never seen an aikido exam before, neither were they participants in one. That's understandable and not frown upon (much) for 6th kyu.

Grading for 6th kyu

I found that this 6th kyu exam was very stressful for the three people who were grading, but they were OK for the 6th kyu level. I remember I was very nervous, too, both when preparing for my first grading (for weeks) and actually doing it. For me, the biggest task before the exam was to memorise the names of techniques. During the exam, the biggest task was to recall the techniques when I heard their names :).

Well done to the 6th kyu students who have just graded!

4th kyu

This is a different story now as the expectations are also different. For 4th kyu, you need to demonstrate various versions of techniques from various attacks and, in addition, they need to look reasonably good. There are attacks such as aihanmi and gyaku hanmi katatedori, katadori, shomenuchi, yokomenuchi and ushiro ryotedori *. There is tachi waza (standing techniques), suwari waza (seated techniques) and hanmi handachi waza (seated defender is attacked by standing attacker). 4th kyu can last up to an hour depending on quality or patience. Quality and patience played an important role in the described 4th kyu exam, here's why:

You as someone grading for 4th kyu should be prepared for the worst (1 hour long exam), so you should start it accordingly (with a well chosen speed that is not too slow but not too exhausing either). I think a bit of nervousness is allowed in the beginning but that shouldn't dominate the whole grading. Unfortunately, nerves and muscles dominated the described exam to an undesired extent. The students were three relatively strong and muscular aikidoka and, unfortunately, being nervous came with the use of the muscles. They seemed to forget that they were there to show technique AND harmony so they started struggling and a kind of "fighting". There were static attackers who tried to pull down instead of pushing forward (which would have been the equivalent to 'attacking'), and there were defenders who struggled with the lack of attack and started becoming frustrated. Both resulted in the use of unnecessary force which eventually made them really tired.

Sweaty aikido grading for 4th kyu (support from girlfriend in the picture on the right, above this)

So why did this grading last for one hour?

1. Quality: if you can demonstrate a technique at a level you are required to, sensei will quickly say the name of the next technique and you can go on. If you are struggling even when sensei tries to give you some clues ('is there really a tenkan?', 'are you sure this was an attack? Do it from gyakuhanmi instead. Ok, this is good. Now back to katadori. Wow! They are similar, indeed!') he has two options: a) stop the whole exam, cut it short and send you home, or b) wait until you realise what your task is. In our case, option b was chosen.
2. Patience: as mentioned above, if nikkyo omote is not ikkyo omote for a minute, it's again either option a or b. Option b was chosen for several techniques in the described exam.
3. Numbers: there were three people grading which would have been quite difficult to organise into groups of two (the option of calling in some else was not chosen this time). A group of three naturally increased the duration of the exam as there were three people to demonstrate a technique. Had it been even number of 4th kyu graders this time they would have collapsed after 25 minutes (see the use of the muscles above) so the group was supposed to be a helper in terms of being able to rest a bit.

There were some good spells during the exam though:

1. I saw uchikaitennage and shihonage ura at a level which was beyond 4th kyu. This gave hope that they knew the techniques but recalling them and doing them properly caused a problem.
2. Towards the end, techniques started to become clearer, circular and more harmonious. Reason: they lost their strength and couldn't resist and struggle any more. They were forced by their bodies to work efficiently. This is why I thought leaving them grading for an hour was useful (and, certainly, memorable).

At the end, the two students who will come to the camp were given a week to think things over  while the student who can't come will be given a second chance (with the grading fee not lost) at the end of August. I think we all learned a good lesson.

There was one thing I suggested to them after the exam. This thing had immediately worked during a training a couple of weeks ago: if you are too nervous and tend to struggle, start humming a piece of classical music when you are training. Obviously, this shouldn't interfere with the training or with your breathing but The Blue Danube can do miracles in my opinion.

In two weeks time, I will also be going for my 1st kyu in the camp so I will be able to give you insights of a grading as well. I'm sure there will be a lot to write about. Hopefully, I will write about the grading success of the above mentioned people and myself.

Tired aikido club members

*: the OnlineAikido.com instructional videos for these attacks will be recorded when we meet with Connor during the mentioned summer camp, and they will be included in our video section soon afterwards (one at a time).

Disclaimer: I want to stress that what I write expresses my personal views and thoughts only. In no way my posts are intended to represent the views of my organisation, dojo and fellow aikidoka from the dojo. I'm glad, however, if my views about things match those of listed above.