MY JOURNEY TO BLACK BELT
BY DANIEL HEALY


My journey to Black Belt began in 2004, following the discovery of a karate advertisement in the newspaper by my mum. She insisted that I and my brother gave it a go, and we broke out of our lazy Saturday routine and set off, completely unaware of how much we would come to love Karate. The "dojo", (a word  which I’d never come across before), had just opened and up until this point, I had the usual stereotypical views about karate; it was a “Chinese martial art” which used “coloured belts” and included the infamous “karate chop”. My views of karate changed almost immediately and, after a few lessons, I realised how complex Goju Ryu Karate was.

I was taught by Sensei Sandra Brookfield at Ormskirk Dojo and, through the exciting yet exhausting training, I realised that this was a lot different from any hobby I’d ever done. It was the first hobby, and probably the first time in my life, that I’d not been put off by hard work. I trained at Ormskirk Dojo twice a week and, at home, my brother and I practiced what we had learnt. Again, this was new. It was the first time I’d ever ‘revised’ without being forced. To me, there was something unique and subconsciously motivating about karate and I enjoyed every minute of every lesson.

In February 2005, I took my first grading at Southport Dojo, and was awarded my first grade; Red Belt with one stripe. It was a tiring experience – an experience I can still remember to this day. Yet from this, I discovered that Karate is a never-ending journey with no limits. It’s more than just a hobby and is something I can do for the rest of my life.

 Over the next few years I continued to train at Ormskirk Dojo. Pads and other equipment were always on the Christmas list, and in June 2008, I travelled with my family to Bournemouth to participate in the weekend grading for 1st Kyu. I was delighted to pass, and I had about five hours of travelling home to reflect on the strenuous grading. It then began to sink in that the next grading, six months away, would be for my Black Belt.

In December, I arrived at Woodchurch Dojo along with my brother, who was also taking his Black Belt grading. Like in Bournemouth six months earlier, it was a weekend grading and we trained for four hours on the Saturday and two hours on the Sunday – which was followed by the grading. I had had an enormous amount of help and preparation from Sensei’s Sandra and John, and was training five times a week. After the training session on the Sunday, we had a short break, and then – after a quick written test – the grading began.

The grading lasted for over three hours, and I was ecstatic to hear my name being called out at the end; “Daniel Healy: Shodan”. My brother had also achieved his Black Belt, and we were both amazed to be awarded our Black Belts by our Sensei’s, who had got them in advance all the way from Okinawa. They even had our names on them in Japanese script. I wore my belt straight away, and was so happy with it, I slept in it!

Thank you to everyone who has helped me on my journey to a Goju Ryu Black Belt.

My Journey to Black Belt
         by Michael Healy


I received my black belt on the 7th December 2008 after a 3 and a half hour grading at Woodchurch dojo in Birkenhead.  The grading seemed to pass quite quickly with a number of small breaks to have a drink and to have a rest. The most exhausting part of the grading wasn’t the press ups which I thought it would be but the pad work which seemed to last forever. When the grading had finished everyone sat down and waited for their hopefully good results.

After a short while everyone who had graded where asked to sit down on the gym floor and await their grade. Relatives and other Sensei’s surrounded the perimeter of the hall anxiously waiting for the results too. The good result soon came for me in the form of “Michael Healy Junior Shodan”. This was when I remembered my whole journey to get to that moment.
It began 4 years and 3 months earlier in September 2004 when my mum took me and my brother to a very recently opened new dojo in Ormskirk ran by Sensei Sandra Brookfield which We had seen advertised in the local paper. We sat and watched the small class on the first lesson but we then started training in our school PE kit in the following weeks. Once we knew we wanted to keep on training Goju Ryu Karate we bought our new (alien looking to us at the time) gi and ordered our new karate licence which would, oblivious to us then, be signed 4 years later at our black belt grading.
My first grading soon came after 6 months of training on 3rd February 2005 at Southport dojo and one of the main memories which is still vivid in my mind is sitting in Shikodachi stance for what felt a decade but it could have just been a few minutes. I still remember the pain running through my thighs as the minutes ticked away and that is the only memory of my first grading that I can recall securely. I passed and got my 10th kyu, red belt, and this was just the first of many passes which led to receiving my final belt at Southport dojo which was 2nd kyu. My 1st kyu grading was taken at the Littledown Centre in Bournemouth. I travelled to Bournemouth with my family by car on a 5 hour journey and stayed at a B&B there. After hours of hard training on the Saturday and Sunday I finally took the grading in front of Sensei Steve Gouldson. The grading was hard going having to do 80 press ups at the very end but it was all worth it in the end receiving my 1st kyu on 15th June 2008. I then prepared for my black belt grading which took place about 6 months later in December bringing me back to the start.
After I had heard that I had got my black belt I was ecstatic being congratulated by everyone I knew and congratulating everyone I knew who had passed. I was then handed, unexpectedly, a black belt with my name on it in gold Japanese embroidery from my Sensei which I was quite shocked about seeing that I didn’t know I was going to receive it on that day.    

I have been helped by so many people to get to the standard of being able to grade for Shodan so I would to thank them all for their time and effort. 

My Journey To Black Belt

By Thomas James.

 
I've been practising and thoroughly enjoying Karate for the past 5 years, being taught by Sensei Sandra Brookfield at Ormskirk Goju Ryu Dojo. I remember the first day I went to karate in 2004 for my first lesson, seeing the other students practising.
I wondered if I would ever get through the first session, I did, as it turned out! getting through many more. I found the lessons beneficial in many ways, I am happy to say my determination to get my Blackbelt from my beginnings as a white belt paid off on the 14th June 2009.
 
The Blackbelt grading weekend was held in Bournemouth England, a total of 6 hours training before the grading was a compulsory element, (4 hours Saturday and 2 more on Sunday morning) The pre-grading sessions is to enable the Sensei's to assess the standard of each student and to confirm who would be eligible to grade on the Sunday afternoon, fortunately I was passed through to the grading after the 6 hours of instruction and assessment, all I had to do now was prepare myself mentally for the grading to come.
 
The worst part of it for me was the waiting prior to the grading, I had some idea of what was to come because all E.G.K.A. Students have to take 1st Kyu in front of the National Panel, even so that did not help I was still nervous. I was confident that I had done what was required to prepare for the grading, but I did not have a training partner, nor did I know anyone there who I could have as my partner for the parts of the grading were you work as a pair, so that was my biggest concern.
 
The grading itself was around 3 hours long, once the grading was completed the Sensei's had to decide who had performed and was worthy of a pass, The wait couldn't have been more than 20 minutes but it felt like an eternity to me.  The grading panel had made up their minds and asked us all to sit down whilst they read out the results: I was elated to hear my name called out, however there was another shock to come as Sensei Sandra presented me with my Blackbelt straight after the grading and it also had my name in Gold Japanese script, the fact that I could hardly walk, or that I had no sensation in my arms was irrelevant, I had my Blackbelt!!!!
 
I can honestly say that getting my blackbelt is the hardest thing I have ever done, but is has to be one of the best too.
 
I would like to say thank you to all the Sensei's who helped me get to Junior Shodan, Blackbelt and all the effort put in especially from Sensei Sandra and also Sensei John Birch who have been fantastic in their efforts to help me achieve my Blackbelt in Bournemouth, they give constant support and effort with all the students at Ormskirk Goju Ryu Karate.