Grading time
November is our busy grading month. We have gradings for Junior Tygers on Saturday 11th November and the Taekwondo students have a grading on Sunday 12th November 2017.
Junior Tygers
The highest grades are on first, make sure you have seen the syllabus on the website and have practiced all the moves. There are also words to learn, so practice answering those. Each Tyger gets a score out of 3 for each activity they perform so for Balance white belts have to kick a pad 3 times without putting their foot down. If the Tyger performs it perfectly with both legs, no wavering or having to do it twice then they will get 3 points, if however they are not fully in control of their balance and they put the foot down or have to hop around but still manage it fairly consistently then it will be two points, if they struggle to
complete the number or only get close it will be 1 point. There are also marks for appearance, behaviour in class, how keen they are to learn Taekwondo. All the points are added up and a score is given for each Tyger at the grading. The Tyger with the highest score in each class will be awarded an extra certificate for best in grading {awarded at the next training session along with all the other certificates). As the belts get higher, the pass mark increases and is harder to achieve especially if they are poorly behaved in class. Belts are awarded on the day of the grading. Mr. Foster will mark all the grading forms and there are no external examiners. Photos may be taken during the grading but please do not use flash photography.
Taekwondo grading
This grading is overseen by Mr. Harper 6th Dan. Again, the senior grades go first right the way through to the white belts who do their grading last. This way, the white belts get to see what it is all about before they get on the mats themselves. All students will have to perform basic moves, moving up and down the hall for example, walking stance middle punch repeatedly until the grading examiner has seen each person perform the technique and has marked their cards. The examiner will be looking mainly at stances, power, effort, technique and breathing. Each student will also have to perform a pattern for their grade and other patterns from previous gradings if they have graded before. The students will also have to do some padwork drills relevant to their grade as well as answer questions based on Korean terminology and Pattern meanings. All the results are given out at the following training session with the exception of those students that have managed to pass with an A grade. A grade is the highest possible grade in the grading. Other grades are a plus pass, a normal pass, a minus pass and a fail. Unfortunately not everyone manages to pass the gradings. Students are never given a fail lightly but it does maintain the integrity of the grading process and makes all students realise they cannot just turn and pass.
The Tygers grade 3 times a year, March, July and November. The Taekwondo students do 4 gradings a year, February, May, August and November.
Best of luck to everyone taking the grading this time around.
