More than 50 candidates from various dojo affiliates reported for grading from 5th kyu to 1st kyu. The majority of the candidates were taking their 5th kyu tests. Candidates from all the university dojos namely MMU Melaka, MMU Cyber, IMU and INTi were represented. From INTi Dojo I entered 4 students for the tests, two for 5th kyu and two for 3rd kyu.
As were past practices I conducted the 5th and 4th kyu tests while Tony Sensei and Low Sensei handled the 3rd , 2nd and 1st kyu grading. Due to the large number of candidates the whole grading exercise lasted about 4 hours. We started at 10am and by skipping lunch managed to wrap it up at 2pm.I was very happy that all the 4 INTi students passed the tests in their respective class. The two 5th kyus were performing up to expectation in their 5th kyu exam. However for the 3rd kyus there were a few anxious moments. M appeared to have forgotten to do the ura version of some of the techniques and momentary lost his concentration during the grading. This was probably due to the fact that he was unnerved by Tony Sensei for the way he called out the techniques in an erratic manner. Finally all ended well as the committee decided to pass all the 3rd kyu candidates, including the two from INTi.
For the past two weeks, I had been training the INTi students up to 3 times a week to prepare them for the grading. From the begining of the month even the Wed SySSDA training was temporarily suspended in favour of intensive Aikido training. It would be a real let down for me as well as the students if after all the effort some could not make the grade.
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