Observations on a recent test
We had testing last week at my dojo. Three people didn't pass - unheard of! We've had the occasional "should do the test again", but usually only one person gets that. Three? Both of those testing for 4th kyu have to do their tests over again, and the advanced weapons prerequisite candidate also has to redo his test.
The two guys testing for 4th, I knew one of them wasn't going to pass going into the test, but the other one I wasn't sure about. Basically, neither of them had the techniques down well enough to show that they understood what they were doing. And one guy, even if he had done everything perfectly (I felt bad for him because I could see him dive into panic the further along in the test he went), would have received a fail, because during the weapons part of the test, he hit the kamiza with this bokken doing suburi techniques 4 through 7, not just once but three times! I thought my Sensei was going to pop a gasket.
I felt awful for him; I knew how hard he works at his practice. The other guy wasn't well prepared. They'll be testing again in December.
The other tests went fairly well.
I still don't know about my 1st kyu test. We're in a transition period right now - while we belong to the CAF, we've been using USAF standards for our testing requirements. One big difference is the time frame. For 1st kyu, CAF only requires a minimum of 200 days. For USAF, it's 300 days. I was going by the USAF timetable, so I hadn't expected to have my requisite number of days until March or April. Now it looks like I'll have my days by December, and I haven't even started to practice yet. (Can't get an uke more senior to practice with.) Also, the technical requirements are different, and the weapons requirements - well, I haven't been in a weapons class for three years. That's been okay up until this level - it's all been individual kata. But now I have to do disarms, and that's really hard when I haven't gone to weapons classes.
I guess I'd better crack down and get on with it!
I don't want to get a 'do over', not after I've worked so hard to get where I am.
More later.