Chelmsford Shotokan Karate Club (CSKC) have had even more success this year, this time with three students passing their black belt grading.
The Karate Union of Great Britain (KUGB), as the largest single style Karate organisation in the UK, hold a number of examinations across Britain each year.
Chelmsford’s Louise Filmer, Rosie Caddy and Mia Hillsden had been training hard to prepare themselves to meet the high standards expected at Egham in Surrey.
Especially as they would be grading under examiners Sensei Andy Sherry (ninth dan), the UK’s first ever Shotokan black belt, and Sensei Frank Brennan (eighth fan) former world kumite and kata champion.
The first session was for brown belts, this included Louise plus other eager students from Chelmsford.
The class was spilt, so those taking their black belt examination later were put through their paces as a final preparation.
A similar format followed for the black belt training. This time they were split into two groups with second to seventh dans in one group, including Chelmsford instructor Richard Naylor-Jones (fifth dan), and the first dans with Rosie and Mia in the other.
First on was Louise who was excellent throughout the exam, particularly in her fight, and successfully passed her first dan black belt.
She was followed by second dan grading candidates Rosie and Mia. Their karate was outstanding against the other participants and both successfully passed.
Sensei Naylor-Jones said: “The KUGB set extremely high expectations, so this is a fantastic achievement for Louise, Mia and Rosie. This success is based on their hard work, passion and dedication to karate, not only just recently but over a number of years.”
Courtesy of: Essex Chronicle