Southampton Grading (05/03/06)

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

Southampton Grading (27/11/05)

Southhampton Grading 27/11/05

Second grading for the club! (Ever I think? Or at least since I’ve been with it) and it went gggrreat. We arrived at Southampton at about 3ish thanks to Alan (the STRAND driver) - Matt + Nat tells me he smelt a bit, but who doesn’t like the smell of old man I ask myself? Anyway, so we arrived at 3pm and went into the grading arena and then straight into a queue. After queuing for a bit we decided that it wasn’t that good queuing so went into the hall where it was freezing and my feet did actually fall off. The room though was packed full of Taekwondo students all ready to grade, Master Pat Donnelly did a short warm up with the whole room (one of the kids made a horrific noise when doing a lunge) and then the pee-wee’s stepped up for some white belt grading. It was ridiculously cute, I couldn’t stop laughing, I felt so bad – one of the kids (he must have been about 6) did the same motion for every kick which was a very slight raise of one leg. Nat insisted that he should pass cos he was so cute, but I begged to differ. Anyway some discussions about Brian Anderson’s name (It’s inevitable) and then we were up next. They had some problems calling Charlee’s name (as per) and the nerves struck in. I have to admit, I did awful: I did a high block when I was supposed to do a middle block and in the next stage (where we did one-for-one non-contact sparring) I nearly kicked the person in the face, although it was actually their fault. Afterwards we went outside for a group picture (which will be on the website soon), and headed back home to Portsmouth. Nat and Nat failed miserably in skanking a lighter of random Southamptoner’s and Alex led everyone back to the minibus (good job he did as well cos I was actually lost), where reliable Alan took us back to Portsmouth and we all headed home for some food, which was awesome – I love food. I ears dropped Colin and Kofi’s conversation about computers and would like to report that he illegally downloads software!

Anyway, I think everyone passed the grading, so are all now yellow tags and we had a great time, many thanks go to Fab and Master Pat Donnelly (our instructors) and I hope we have many more gradings in the future.