My Student’s First Grading – An article by Joshua Haigh

It was a very nervous experience, watching one of my students grade. Before I became an instructor, I had heard that it was worse watching your students grade that actually grading yourself. I wasn’t sure about this, but experience has proven it true!
I could see that Carrie was nervous but she handled it well. The whole point of a grading is to see how you perform under pressure, since if you need to use your skills in a self-defence situation you will definitely be under a LOT of pressure!
Kung Fu makes you physically tougher and mentally tougher, and gradings, competitions and demos are a good way to build some mental toughness.
I was very pleased with Carrie’s performance at her first grading. One down, nineteen to go!
See you in the training hall,

Josh Haigh
Eastbourne instructor