Congratulations to our new Shuri Ryu nidan, Sam Johnson, who completed a three-part exam Saturday – and we beat the snow that is leaving our area with more than just a dusting of the white stuff. Johnson began his formal testing – he’d been under scrutiny for some time in the lead up to his formal test – with a sparring session (about 10-12 rounds) at Capital Karate and Krav Maga (thanks to sensei Andrew Wagoneer and his students for again allowing us to come over and train with them). Then there was a 35-question written exam, plus plenty of “knowledge” questions along the way and on Saturday. Sam’s testing finished up with Saturday’s two-hour test (he was the only one testing) before a three-board panel: chief instructor and seventh-dan Rick Scoppe along with fifth-dans Thomas Seastrunk and Charlotte Bryant. Saturday included a physical exam (500 front kicks, 300 situps, etc.) as well as numerous kata, our waza (10 taezus, 20 kihons, 20 ippons) along with self-defense and traditional weapons (bo, sai and nunchaku) along with animal forms, footwork, etc. Sam did a great job and passed with a unanimous vote. Congrats, again, Sam, well done.
He did great! And it was fun to be part of it, if only to get thrown around as uke for the self-defenses
Great Job, Sam