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!.