Part three. The aftershock!

So I was now a Black belt in karate, it was a very strange feeling, one that I never expected. I had booked a couple of days off work after the grading so on the Monday morn I went out and bought my new belt from the local sports shop. The next night I stepped into the dojo I would be wearing that belt, the black belt. I did not actually celebrate passing my grade in any fashion, I just carried on with my normal life and did not tell many people that I had passed.
Tuesday night soon came and I was at the dojo early as usual. Some of the judo club were there and congratulated me on passing. Walking into the training area with a new belt on was very strange because after wearing the same brown one for nearly two years it felt very uncomfortable as the new belt was so stiff!! Everyone seemed to be staring at me. We lined up to take the bow I was not sure were to stand, I wanted to get in the line with the rest of the students but Frank told me to line up with him at the front of the class. Then we just got down to a normal training session, I got in line and blasted through everything. I mentioned earlier that it felt very strange being a black belt. It was a feeling of let down, as though it had all finished and it would never be the same. When all your focus has been on achieving one thing for so long when you finally get what you want. It all seems flat and deflated. I must admit it took some getting used to and for a long time I hated being asked to help out teaching. I must have been the worst instructor in the club I’m sure they all dreaded me taking the class for basics! All I wanted to do was train as before.
I started to get bored of the training; it all became a routine I was not learning any more. But one thing that I had a passion for was kata, I loved it. So I decided to get some kata books and start learning some more it took me some time but I managed to get three or four advanced Shotokan kata in my head. The only thing for me to do was to see if I had learned them correctly. One of our students had left us to go and train in Shotokan he was a good friend of mine so I went down to train with him at his club. The instructor was Mick Adams an absolutely top karate man. I thought I was quite good at karate until I met this man! Mick opened my eyes to my approach to karate he was so crisp and powerful in his kata I just had to add this to my karate. I went through the kata that I had picked up out of the books and found that I was not far away in how I had learned them so with a little more hard work I managed to switch my kata style to Shotokan. I relearned all my previous kata in the Shotokan way as well. This was a period of transition in my karate and my personal life. People move on and life changes. For me it would not be a bad thing.

Black Belt

my story part 2

We were called into the room and lined up I was on the back row, there was about eight of us I think, so there was not much room. Because it was a small room it made a very intense atmosphere we were all very nervous, Phil Milner did not look in a good mood ! We began with all the basic punches and kicks, I thought I did well despite having to adjust my technique so as not to hit the person in front of me!. We moved onto Kata my favourite part . We were subjected to the most intense grilling on every aspect of kata that I have ever been through. Milner was on form that day and nothing was missed. We got up to Kushanku, one of the more complex set of moves in Karate and I just blew it. I managed to get just over half way through and was told to sit down. I remember Milner’s words well “sit down son ,well done “ that’s all he said, I was devastated and was really mad at my self for screwing up all I could put it down to was that I lost my nerve.
The only one to pass was Roy, from our club, which at the time really got to me as I knew that I was better that him in all aspects of Karate. Of course when I look back at it all now Roy just made less mistakes than me!. After the grading I went outside and broke down, all that hard work and dedication had been a waste of time. I felt that I had let Frank and the club down, Frank and Steve Barras came out to console me, they said that I did well and that I had not let anyone down. All the way back home on the coach I never spoke to anyone, I had decided to pack it all in. We arrived home and said our goodbyes Steve said he would call for me on Tues night to go to club, but I said I wasn’t going back. If I did not go Steve said he would drag me there!
Tues night came and it was like I was programmed to go, I ironed my suit as usual and went training. I was first there as usual. I guess after a few days of reflection the was nothing going to stop me going back. That night I trained more intense than ever, I knew I could achieve my goal. Frank told me the next grading would be at our dojo in winter. I just got my head down and worked harder than ever and pushed myself to new levels. No one in the club could keep up with me, it was a great moment in my karate.
The grading day came, it was December 3rd 1977. I was so up for it that day I was up at 7am and at the dojo for 9am, an hour early!
The dojo was cold so warming up was very important, I had a sweat on in no time!. There was about seven of us , along with me this time was John and Ray from our club. John and Ray were great characters in the dojo, I got on real well with them. Along with Milner this time we had a few of the top Dan grades in the IBA present John Robinson, Duncan Hardy, Kevan Judge and all our club Dan grades The grading got under way with the basics, our dojo was very big compared to the one previous which suited me because I was used to doing lots of basics, I don’t know about the others but I loved it. Then the Kata section, well I got through them with the least mistakes of all of us. Then came Knife defences, throws, arm locks and breaking techniques, which consisted of breaking a house brick, 12 roof tiles, a breeze block and two inches of wood . Then we had to fight each other.
After all this we all sat down away from the grading panel and awaited the results, I knew in my mind I had done it, everything went so well. I was called up to the table and was told that I had passed first class.
Well I was over the moon ! Years of dedication to my art had finally come to the ultimate prize of Black Belt!.

My Story
To start off the I will describe some of my early experiences in Karate. Then all the other people I have met over the years can fill in all the gaps.
It all started in July 1974 just after my 15th birthday I remember watching the news on the television when it was announced that the fittest man in the world had suddenly died that man was Bruce Lee. The Bruce Lee craze had started with his films magazines and books flooding the market.
After a few months of being exposed to all this kung fu on the news in the
Papers etc I really wanted to give it a go but as far as I could find out there were no clubs in the area, until one night my father told me of a Karate club that was running at the NDLB in Popple Street. It wasn’t Kung Fu I remember saying to my self but it must be similar.
So I asked my father if he would take me down there to have a look, I was a very shy, quiet and not a very confident boy at the time so it took a lot of courage to just go down and watch.
On a dark November night we went down on my fathers old Honda fifty motor bike, I had never been on the back of a bike before so it was an interesting journey especially when going around corners when I tried to keep upright!
The NDLB trained three nights per week Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday nights 7.30pm to 9.30pm. This Particular night was a Tuesday as I went in the first thing I noticed was a large mated area with about fifty children on it all going through various throws and break falls and lots of parents sat watching. Looking to the right of the hall were about ten people from about 14 years to the late 30,s I think. These people were the NDLB Karate Club which would eventually become my second home!!
The hall had a green marble floor and the walls were painted cream,
Too the right of the hall hanging from the ceiling right across from one side to the other was what looked like Hessian sack, later I found out this was the changing rooms!
My father called over one of the Karate men whom he seemed to know and introduced me, his name was Charlie Storr, Charlie was aged about 20, about 5 “11 tall and was very thin.
He told me to sit down and watch the session to see if I liked it, my father left me and said he would pick me up at 9 o clock.
I do not remember too much of the training only that Charlie was taking the class and he was only a purple belt, I did not have a clue what level purple belt was but to me he looked really good in fact the whole class looked like they were experts! Lots of exercise, kicking punching and kata, were drilled up and down the hall for what seemed like hours. When my father came to pick me up Charlie came across to us and told me if I liked it I could join the next night.
Well I was hooked! The next night I turned up all ready to start my journey in the martial arts. I was very nervous and did not have a clue what to wear, I had some white jeans and a white top that I thought would make me fit in with the rest of the class who all had the traditional karate suits. The changing room was quite dark and the Hessian sheeting that formed the walls was old and smelly, two benches that looked like they had come from an old church were along one side. The room was full of people talking to each other. I sat down in the corner and took off my shoes and waited for Charlie to arrive, when he came in he said hello and got changed then took me out onto the dojo floor, it seemed huge and I found it really quite scary!
And from that night on I trained three nights a week and when Steve Barrass at 2nd kyu opened his club on Thursdays it was four nights a week. I was totally wrapped up in the world of Martial Arts and 33 years later I am still as enthusiastic about the Martial Arts as ever.

Then after a few weeks or so Charlie left I do not know why but the next man I met would, through his personality and enthusiasm for karate affect my Karate for life. He was Frank Hayes.
Frank to me seemed quite old he was about 35 I guess, he was about 5” 7” tall built like a bull and very strong. He was a blue belt at the time.
It was Frank who gave me my first Karate suit it was an old one that he did not use any more so having my own suit gave me a big lift, I began to feel part of the club. For Christmas that year my father bought me a Karate suit it was black which I chose because Frank had one but it had faded grey but looked good.
Also Frank gave me my first book on Martial Arts it was called teach yourself self defence by Eric Dominy. It was just a small paper back but I loved it, I have still got it in my collection.

I will jump forward to 1977 when I attempted my black belt at Haltemprice sports centre, by this time I was training six nights a week four at dojo,s and two at home. The dan grading was taken by the top instructors of The International Budo Association headed by Phil Milner.
They were all very intimidating people who were very strict they would take great pleasure in dishing out punishment to any student who stepped out of line for any reason at all, such as not bowing at the dojo door, forgetting a move in a kata etc, all little things but very much part of the discipline of the IBA.
There were four of us taking black belt that day from Hull, Ray Beasley, John Westoby, Roy Wilson and Myself. I think there were about three others from Chesterfield as well. The grading was a disaster they failed us all, there was some nasty punishment dealt out to some of us; luckily I escaped the worst of it. Lots of bruises though!
We talked about it later and thought that the grading was not a very fair grading. Our next chance to attempt the dan grade came a few months later.
The IBA used to have hundreds of members all over West Yorkshire and used to hold mass grading in various locations and the next chance to take dan grade was at one of these gradings.The grading was at the Birdholme Karate Club in Chesterfield, I remember we had to book a coach to take us all there as at this time our clubs had so many students.

The venue was an old sort of village hall set in a small park, inside the hall along each side was old wooden chairs and to the back of the hall was a small room the floors were made of wooden blocks which had been worn away from many years of use. The whole place was dimly lit, it reminded me of the old Sunday school I used to go to when I was a kid. When we arrived I was very nervous as this was the accumulation of months of intense training six days a week and it all came down to this one session, that would last as long as was required to get through to my goal of black belt!