IKO Karate Academy of Guyana second grading examinations

Dec 29, 2021 Sports

Scintillating performances given by Karatekas in quest for grades

Kaieteur News – The International Karate Organization’s Academy of Guyana has just held its second grading examinations since its establishment in Guyana, but the first for its dojos in Georgetown and Linden where more than seventy students were successfully tested and promoted this past week. The IKO’s Academy, the largest Shotokan karate organization in Guyana, had held its first grading last year for Karatekas of the IKO Berbice dojo.

Students and Instructors take a photo op following the conclusion of the grading exercise.

Gradings are formal assessments to review students’ progress in acquiring skills in the art of Karate-do. They may be considered to be like “milestones” in learning. It is a means of giving feedback and recognition of the Karate student’s skills. Each grade is signified by a different colour belt, starting with the White and progressing to Black. Wearing a black belt is a great privilege, and carries a great deal of responsibility.
Under the IKO’s ranking system that is consistent with most other traditional Shotokan Karate Organizations, there are 10 Kyu and 10 Dan ranks. To obtain certification for each rank, the Karate student must fulfill the certification requirements and complete the testing procedure. Testing – or grading – is carried out by a panel of instructors headed by the Chief Instructor and Chairman, Shihan Jeffrey Wong. Additionally, in order to be eligible for belt testing, members must attend a minimum number of classes and meet the technical proficiency requirements of the belt level they will be testing for.
At the Georgetown Dojo, which is located at the Muslim Youth Organization in Woolford Avenue in Thomas Lands, leading the promotions were Amaya Christina Ramsarup and Shemina Peroune who skipped from 10th kyu to 6th kyu (White Belt to Green Belt) and Ian Nathaniel Ramsarup and Shad Walrond who skipped from 10th kyu to 7th kyu (White Belt to Orange Belt) whilst Reian Nicketa Fredericks, Aiden Housain Baksh, Joseph Hector, Kasan Whyte, Daniel London and Zabida Parboo skipped from 10th kyu to 8th kyu (White Belt to Yellow Belt).
At the Linden Dojo where training is carried out at the Mackenzie High School’s Auditorium heading the promotion list of Karatekas were Susanne Hamilton, Jerrick Rutherford, Sharice Henry and Shamariah London who skipped from 10th kyu to 5th kyu (White kyu to Blue Belt), McAle Mc Rae, Rondel Rutherford, Omarion Forsythe, Javari Mc Kenzie, Reya Temaul, Jaden Temaul, Aaliyah Allicock and Carlotta Thompson who skipped from 10th kyu to 6th kyu (White Belt to Green Belt), Cleon Bristol, Shakim Bobb-Semple, Collis Jacobs, Rasheed Allicock, Jabari Frank, Quincy Smartt, Leon Fiedtkou, Rajon Alleyne, Unique Webster, Duran Fiedtkou, Sharique Mohamed, Jasezin Lamazon, Takuma Burgess, Jafari Murray, Tywin Burgess, Sean Sealey, Luther Fiedtkou and Tevonne Collette who skipped from 10th kyu to 7th kyu (White Belt to Orange Belt) and Akira Bethune, Kenya Mentis, Adrian Glasgow, Jaliyah Liverpool, Sameer Khan, Ameer Khan, Amelia Wills, Amari Smith, Zylick Adams, Riyaad Ramnanan, Justin Fiedtkou and Javier Frank who all skipped from 10thkyu to 8th kyu (White Belt to Yellow Belt).
At the end of the grading examinations in expressing his complete satisfaction with the outstanding performances of the students who were tested, the Chief Instructor Shihan Wong, a phenomenally gifted Karateka whose technical mastery of Shotokan Karate is well known throughout Guyana, the Caribbean and other parts of the world where he has successfully participated in and led teams to international competitions since the 1970s, informed that it was his absolute intention to attain and maintain the highest level of performance from each student, every dojo and from the IKO Karate Academy of Guyana as a whole.
Wong credited the eminently successful grading sessions by IKO Guyana so far to the traditional teaching methods being used and the high standards implemented with each student. Each student learns each technique and tradition in its original and most powerful form. As a result, the IKO Academy of Guyana produces some of the strongest and most skillful karate-kas in the country.
The Chief Instructor stated that one of the biggest human traits that martial arts develops in practitioners is humility and even though he understood the pride his students felt in receiving their new rankings, he warned them and his instructors against engaging in self-aggrandizement and becoming enthralled with fancy titles and ranks as he has observed has been the case with some other martial arts practitioners. Amongst his plans for the year 2022 shall be the placing of emphasis on teaching martial arts etiquette which he considers to be one of the highest levels of practice in the arts.
The Karate Master who has been in the martial art of karate for more than fifty years now, bemoans what he considers to be the recent commercialization and ‘sportification’ of martial arts in some quarters, and stated that the intention of IKO Guyana was not to teach karate for commercial purposes as in the case where some clubs can be seen hosting gradings as frequent as three and four times a year, or to have their students engage routinely in showy demonstrations and mediocre tournaments but rather to preserve and spread traditional Japanese karate throughout the length and breadth of Guyana through exceptional instruction.
Lieutenant Colonel Eon Murray of the IKO Academy of Guyana, who has been paying a lot of attention to the Linden Dojo said that they have been putting immense focus on the proper form and balance of each kihon, or basic technique. Through constant repetition of such techniques, he opined that a person’s body learns to move effortlessly, naturally, and their mind learns to be effortless and natural as well.
The Academy shall be hosting supplementary grading examinations in early January of 2022 for those students of the Georgetown and Linden Dojos who were unable to attend the recently held grading sessions.