How our gradings work

White to green belts will grade, on average, three times a year. Blue to third brown belts will grade twice a year. Younger students get a red stripe if they pass a grading and when they have three red stripes, they move up to the next belt.

There is a compulsory minimum waiting period of one year between third brown and black belt.

Students will be invited by their sensei if they are ready to grade, keeping the following in mind:

• Attitude
• Standard
• Time
• Attendance
• Age (for juniors).

All gradings include:

• basics
• stepping basics
• stances
• kata
• kumite (sparring)
• bunkai (practical application of kata)
• supplementary training
• fitness test of increasing difficulty