Southampton Grading 05/06
Third grading for the club!!!!! (Second for me) the actual grading was ok but the getting there was amusing!! Firstly the union didn’t book strand so we had to drive to the west Totton centre. So Alex, Rob and Mo went and got their cars and picked up the rest who waited at the union, Alex with Steve (club president) and Brian Anderson went in front with the directions that Master Pat had given us. We set off down the M27 towards Southampton (this was the easy bit!) Got off at Junction 2 as it said on the sheet and followed signs that said Totton! After getting lost 5 times and asking 4 different people for directions we came to an arts centre, it didn’t look very big and we weren’t sure if this was the right place but there was a car like the one Master Pat drives parked outside so it was possible we were in the right place!!!! Steve went in to check it out. After the woman had worked out he wasn’t here for the tennis tournament she gave us directions to the west Totton Centre. We finally arrived half an hour late! The white belt grading was nearly finished so for most of us we were just in time for our yellow tag grading! Rob and Mo did there grading with us even though they were white belts. The nerves kicked in, especially as we didn’t have time to warm up or stretch before the grading! The last minute wondering which way you step out first on leg technique number one, etc. The nerves didn’t seem to affect our performance to much, except Steve who unfortunately had a complete mental block when it came to Tageuk 1, an 18 move pattern. This was partly because he didn’t realise it was part of his grading.
Anyway we had a very eventful day and had a good time (that was just watching Mo try and do turns in the road without power steering!!!!) thanks to Master Pat Donnelly and Steven Butlin (Instructors) for teaching us. Hopefully there will be many more gradings to come, without us getting lost and turning up late!!! :D
