Building a student into a confident black belt is a nuanced journey. It’s not just about how hard the student consistently trains with effort, or how good their form is, or how long they’ve been on a grade.

A karate grading is an invitation to assess a student’s integration of all of these things. It’s a time for the instructors to measure the students’ progress and consider their mental, emotional and physical readiness while respecting each individual’s unique personality and character.

Years of experience help the instructors determine the essence of what the student needs, and what will best enhance their learning. Whether a student is moving from white to yellow belt, or brown to black, or anything in between, each martial arts journey is an individual one and cannot be compared with fellow students.

At Samurai we believe that a grading is an opportunity for growth. Being invited to grade is a recognition of progress and an honouring of our students as they continually seek to earn a higher level in our art of karate.

Congratulations to all our students who have recently graded and earned themselves another stripe, another colour or another black belt dan grade. It’s an honour to guide you and train with you as we improve one session at a time.

Osu Always

SENSEI BRUCE VAN RENSBURG | 6th Dan KSI