Finally! It's over!

Founders' Cup 2005 that is - a weekend filled with AGM, state grading and team competition. My club was the host this year, and as its president, I was running around like crazy getting final arrangements in place.

Actually, there is alot to say though I don't know where to start. I'll keep the organisation part out of the blog as it's not useful for my future reference.

The only part which I participated in was the grading. I was attempting for 2nd kyu on Saturday. Even then, my confidence was a wee bit down due to my training inconsistency for the past 2 months or so. I think my sensei wasn't very pleased that I elected to grade. Anyway, my confidence got better after the practice run in the morning. I had a minor scare during the morning practice when I sorta twisted something in my left foot but luckily it got better.

Afternoon arrived and grading started. I wasn't even feeling nervous. Not worried about passing at all. If I failed, I'd get to grade next time with my fellow sankyus who couldn't grade this time because of work commitments. In my mind, I had nothing to lose. Besides, I've already accepted the fact that kendo is going to be a life-long pursuit for me. Menkyo is just a piece of paper anyway, it's the real kendo that counts. What I expected was feedbacks about my kendo.

Grading was separated into 2 groups. Ikkyu and dan grade applicants in one group, while 6th kyu to nikyu applicants in the next group. So I was in the later group, together with my only dojo-mate Chris Barbe and my mates from the other clubs, including Dino and Adam from UNSWKC. Grading started and it was the 6th kyu applicants first and there were heaps! It's like that each grading so it's not unexpected. Most of us 2nd kyu applicants were looking at the ikkyu and dan grade applicants going through the motion so we didn't really notice the lower kyu gradings. 6th kyu grading took very long though. By the time the ikkyu and dan grades were completed (including kata), we were just up to yonkyu grading! The weather was cool so we tried ways to warm ourselves up.

Finally! It's our turn! My number was 2-5 so I got paired up with Chris, who was 2-6. Went through kiri-kaeshi, uchikomi-geiko, kakari-geiko then 2 rounds of jigeiko. I remember playing Chris in my second round of jigeiko and Nathan (from ANUKC) in my first round. Things could have been better but it was acceptable on my part. It was over pretty quickly and we were relieved.

It was over - or so we thought. I popped into the kitchen to refill the water bottle and went to chat with some of the fellow nikyu applicants. Then the steward (Dave Bunder) came to announce that applicants 2-2 and 2-5 were to put their men on. 2-5 was me, and 2-2 was Dino. Dino was upstairs chatting with his friends so I called for him and he came down looking dazed. I told him that we'd been instructed to put our men on and he thought that a bunch of us had set him up! You see, it's not common for nikyu applicants to be asked to attempt for ikkyu, and we were told to prepare to do kata if we passed the ikkyu test. The entire hall was quiet - it 's just him, myself, and the grading panel. I could feel all eyes on us as we went through the test. Since there were just 2 of us, a motodachi was selected. Turned out to be Adam McNeil, the Australian kyu champion, who attempted his ikkyu earlier in the other court. After kakari-geiko it was straight into jigeiko with Dino first then Adam second. Both of them are tall, and I was the only short guy. I didn't do that well but I tried to keep my composure and my attacks spirited and was very glad when it's over.

Dino and I were both called for kata. Again the hall fell silent as we began. Apparently I was meant to be shidachi but I heard uchidachi instead. So I started being the uchidachi in ippon-me. Dino went into hidari jodan just to see me doing the same but luckily he corrected into migi jodan. We did ippon-me to sanbon-me with me as uchidachi. When we finished, people started clapping and Itakura sensei wasn't happy as there was a mistake. He said that he's going to give us one more chance, and announced very clearly and Dino was to be the uchidachi this time. Again, we went through the 3 kata again and I finally got nervous. My body was practically shaking! I was very happy with the kata. We had done as best as we possibly could with plenty of emphasis on zanshin. One thing I should have done better was to lower the kensen more during chiburi. I noticed Dave nodding as we completed our kata and we were confident that we'd pass. Again, the crowd started clapping. Dino and I were totally exhausted. Our results were later confirmed by Vivian, the NSWKA secretary, as she reads out the results before we went home.

I don't disagree with the grading panel, but I do feel that I don't deserve the grade. I will train harder!