Congratulations to all who participated over the weekend of December 2nd & 3rd – it was encourag-ing to see the amount of study that had gone into being prepared for their exams. The format for the weekend resulted in the technical exams being conducted on the Saturday with Kata taking place on the Sunday.
All participants passed their national technical exam (NTE). They were seeking to pass their NTE as follows -
• for 1st Dan - Gavin Brunton, Foppe De Vries, Stuart Harvey, Andy Hata, Danielle Wickins & Nick Williamson,
• for 2nd Dan - Michael Lubomudrov 1st Dan and
• for 4th Dan - Cameron Clarke
On the Sunday we had twelve participating in the various Kata presentations, on display were Nage no Kata, Katame no Kata, Goshin Jutsu and Koshiki no Kata
Attaining their promotion as follows: -
• to 1st Dan - Gavin Brunton, Roberta Griffiths, Andy Hata, Sam Power, Brad Teal, Danielle Wickins, Nick Williamson & Matthew Wong,
• to 2nd Dan - Michael Lubomudrov,
• to 4th Dan - Cameron Clarke and
• to 6th Dan - Kiki Velloza and Zane Lightfoot
The Grading Panel consisted of Jim McPhee (JNZ Grading Director - 8th Dan), Bill Vincent (JNZ Kata Director & Grading Commission member - 8th Dan), Graeme Spinks (Grading Commission - 7th Dan), Jason King (Grading Commission - 6th Dan), Derek Maggs (Grading Commission - 6th Dan) and Wellington 1st Kyu Grading Panel members Norm Cook (6th Dan), Alan Hoverd (6th Dan) and Steve Tarring (JNZ Kata Commission Chair - 5th Dan) were also invited to join the panel.
Each Club represented should be proud of their members who all came forward for promotion, made possible from the excellent work and dedication of their club coach9es) & Uke’. It was a good test of the Judoka’ character and fortitude to stand up and demonstrate their waza in front of such large panel.
Lastly a big thank you to the Wellington Judo Academy who hosted us over the weekend making us all very welcome in their dojo.