The grading involved our whole club wit heveryone looking to step up to get a new sash and learn new things in 2013. At stake were two purple sashes, a yellow, two browns and of course, two blacks. Me and Kev were both feeling confident despite still being unsure on a couple of areas. Kev was still being troubled by little bits in the sets and for me it was my usual nemesis, the blocks.
For those of you baffled by the ins and outs of Kung Fu, here's the low down. Sashes are earned in gradings from beginner to white, blue, orange, green, yellow, purple, brown then black. Each grading from the blue sash upwards requires you to perform different elements. There are the walking techniques which involve various hand and foot attacks, blocks where one person blocks and counters another's attacks, and the sets, a combination of often intricate movements performed alone. As the gradings get higher, the sets become longer and harder to perform and the techniques require more skill and flexibility. The black sash requires you to perform everything you've ever learnt. This includes around 20 walking techniques, a selection of 20 different blocks, 7 sets, 1 knife defence set, 1 stick defence set and wood breaking.
I forgot how nerve-racking and tiring the gradings get, and this was the big one. Part of the grading included jumping kicks, a favourite of mine but often very hard to do. Trying a jumping spinning kick with the weaker foot is a spectacle I can tell you. It's one of those things you can only let go and just give it all you've got. Despite mishearing the wrong first set, they all went pretty much as clockwork. Kev though was really struggling with the black sash set, Bac Pye Surn or 'fist of the Bac Pye Mountain' for all you non-orientals. All instructions are in chinese when it comes to the moves. From orange sash onwards you no longer perform front kicks, they are 'Tsin Tak'.
The stick defence went easy enough, the knife defence was full on as ever, the fact we were greading for black gave it that extra bit of edge. All seemed well until we were called back up and I knew what was coming next, the blocks. Arm and kick blocks require knowledge of 40 different blocks and attacks and are chosen at random for the black grading. It is this randomness that I find hardest to overcome. Where the sets are a continuous set of predefined movements, the blocks require complete yet partial knowledge. Luck must have been on my side though as I knew 3 out of the 4 I had to perform, messing up just the one. I remember sitting down semi-dejected, hoping for the perfect grading and just coming up short. It didn't matter though, my sets and walking techniques had done the job and me and Kev had passed. Although I was still disappointed with my performance, it was quickly changed when I put the sash on for the first time. I later found out i'd received an A- mark for the grading which i'm pretty chuffed about. One day I might even become a sifu (instructor) myself but until then i'll happily settle for the title Ross Jenkins, Black Sash 1st Dan :).
Rossifer x
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