Grading 1 - Kids

It's time to have a summer break in our club. It will be one month as usual to let people go on holidays without being stressed about missing so many trainings :) and to build up motivation to come to trainings later. One month is enough for some techniques and learned principles to settle in one's mind and then we can start again with fresh enthusiasm towards training. In our club, a year finishes at the beginning of July (so I'm a bit late with this post but was waiting for the pictures), and the end of a season is marked by a special training which ends with "Britain's got talent" or "who knows what" (as Karesz sensei says), i.e. gradings.

This year, this last training has been a really special one as we adults have trained together with the kids and then adults watched the kids' grading and vice versa, afterwards. Leading the kids class, I was more excited about this training then when I have my own grading. This is probably because, by now, I kind of know what is expected from me at a grading and I can also assess whether I'm up to it or it will be a close call to pass, while I knew what the kids learned and knew but I wasn't not sure whether they could demonstrate it under the pressure of grading in front of 15 other students and my sensei. Short version of the grading story: they could :). They were also good during the training immediately before their call to demonstrate their knowledge.

Gyaku hanmi katatedori attack

I think it was a new and interesting experience for many of us to attend a class that had children and adults mixed. I saw several of the muscular adults to soften while training with kids. Unfortunately, they couldn't really show this when they were grading but that's another story I keep for my next post. I tried not to act as usual, which means I tried to train normally and not pay particular attention to the kids as it wasn't me who was instructing the (children's) class. Needless to say, it was a hard task. I kept finding myself watching them and trying to make sure they did everything well and adjusted to the class of adults, but they could perfectly do so without my special attention. Also, the adults took care of the kids and instructed them the best way they could.

Kids aikido in action

Then the time for grading came and were lined up, some of us to oversee the grading, some to grade and others to watch and learn from how others were examined. I told Karesz how nervous I was about my class's first grading and he said "Now you understand how I felt when I first took my class to grade in front of my sensei" (who is Laszlo Elsner, 5th dan Aikikai). The grading started with the demonstration of the kids class members. To achieve their first level (which is called the 'yellow tag'), they only needed to demonstrate the very basics: steps and rolls. They will need to show techniques when they go for their orange tag and, later, some more techniques for the red tag (which will be the equivalent of an adult's 6th kyu level). This is what I asked from them:

• Steps from standing position: sliding forward and backward, stepping forward and backward, turning, pivoting, stepping taisabaki
• Steps in shikko dachi: stepping forward and backward, turning and stepping taisabaki
• Rolls: mae ukemi, ushiro ukemi

I think they performed really well and they deserve their new aikido ranks in the club. I also appreciated their attention and patience to be able to sit and watch for almost an hour when the adults were grading for 6th and 4th kyu (there wasn't anyone for 5th this time). As successful graders, they received a certificate of their achievement (which I designed for them) and a piece of yellow tape wrapped around the ends of their belt. They seemed to appreciate these ways of acknowledgement and I was proud of them as they could walk to sensei and take their certificates just as the etiquette says (many adults don't seem to know this too well).

The youngest aikidoka in front of the others

Background to kids' grading

We had several discussions about belt colours. I started with researching what is used in various aikido dojos and organisations. Also, it was a question of discussion whether a kid's level should be equivalent to that of an adult. It was obvious we didn't want 7 year old shodans as it simply wouldn't make sense. So we came up with a structure. I include it here in case someone faces similar problems and this may help them. The principles, problems and solutions are as follows:

1. There should be an equivalence between adults' and kids' levels as it wouldn't be fair to start from the beginning when a 12-13 year old goes to the adults with reasonable experience and knowledge. We decided though that kids can go no further than an adult 4th kyu. Having 6-5-4 kyu levels only, however, would not really be motivating for kids and these are too big jumps for them both in terms of techniques and time. Some instructors say kids should have a grading every two months. Given that, at the moment, we only have one training a week, I think this should be between 3 and 6 months but I'm not going to force any gradings as I find it more important that kids enjoy trainings and not focus on a test too much (they have enough tests and exams in their school studies anyway). To balance the jumps between kyu levels, we introduced two levels between each kyu levels, so 6th kyu will be kids' 3rd grading, 5th kyu will be their 6th, and 4th will be their 9th. Equivalence, grading frequency and transition between kyu levels seems to be solved.
2. There should not be fully coloured belts as it contradicts with the view of our organisation and, I believe, the principles of aikido. That is, it shouldn't be our aim to get another belt, nor should it be to try and outdo others by having another coloured belt as quickly as possible. That wouldn't be the aim of going for harmonious training. On the other hand, kids need some kind of visual recognition of their ranks so coloured belts might not be a completely bad idea either. To solve this conflict, we copied the club's kick boxing class's 'tag' system which includes wrapping the above mentioned tape (insulation tape seems to be perfect for this) around the end or ends of the belt. So we start with yellow which will be followed by orange and red where red will be the same as 6th kyu. I don't remember the next colours we made up but there are nine colours until 4th kyu and the colours correspond to the usual colours used in other aikido organisations or other martial arts (sorry, I have had one single white belt all my life).

Anyway, well done to the kids!

I would also like to say a big thank you to Karesz sensei and my wife Heni for their help through which I have been able to run these classes!