Five students passed their belt tests Saturday at the Midlands School of Martial Arts, including a family of three – William Jones (blue) and wife, Sarah, (yellow) along with their son, Conrad, (blue). Also successfully navigating their tests were Karis Johnson (purple) and her nephew, Judah Clayton (blue). Congratulations to one and all! Everyone did a great job under not only the watchful eye of the five instructors (one seventh dan, two fifth dans, one nidan and one shodan) but also some welcome guests, longtime karateka who were also under our instructor (Hanshi Ridgely Abele): Michael Blevins, Tim McGuiness and Rod Gardner, who came to share fellowship and watch the test. The students went through about a two-hour exam that included our kihons, ippons and taezus (short waza) as well as kata and self-defense, plus a physical exam: 1-mile run/bicycle/swim, 500 front kicks, 5 minutes punch/backfist, 75 overhead strikes with 15, 10, 8 or 2.5 pounds, depending on age, size and gender, before finishing up with 300 situps. Below are a couple pictures: one of the entire group and another with the two youngsters and their direct instructor, Tom Bryant.
