End of Fall Grading at Ligo Dojo
November 6, 2008

It was a big weekend at Ligo Dojo! On thursday, 34 students graded for new belts at our end of the fall season promotion. On friday, six of us traveled back to Connecticut for a full-contact tournament there on saturday. Our senior women students, Nydia F, Amy K, and Amy W all fought in an all black belts division even though none of them are black belt level yet, BKH reidential student Paul Kaminski (above) made it to the semi-finals in the lightweight division, and one of our newest dojo members, Nydia's husband Vladamir from Russia, also fought and took second place in the middle weight division. Photos and video clips from our weekend tournament will be posted here after several weeks. In the mean time, we have photos and video clips from the grading to offer you here.

Remember that aside from two students testing for 3rd kyu (green belt, brown stripe), all students here are relatively new and were testing for 10th or 9th kyu (orange), 8th or 7th kyu (blue), and only 3 students for 6th kyu (yellow). Remember therefore that the general experience level in our new dojo is still relatively low. Be sure to see the tournament photos and clips for an idea of what black belt level at Ligo Dojo is like.

Video clips at bottom of page.

Although most of the content of the grading was basic technique and kata, every student at Ligo Dojo fights in ONE full-contact, one minute bout against someone of their own size and level at the time of their promotion. It's very important to understand, first, that safety is our greatest concern. You will note by watching the videos that although the students experience a farily high level of contact, their opponents are very carefully chosen and the bout is watched very carefully to ensure the greatest degree of safety possible.

Second, it's important to understand that the frequency to which Ligo Dojo students engage in this kind of activity depends on the physical abilty and preferences of the individual. Some students are interested in traveling to full-contact tournaments, others are not, all are welcome! Even in the best dojos in Japan, some 10% of the student body are interested in full-contact fighting, while the interest of the other 90% range form wanting to learn self-defense to wanting to imporove their general health and gain spiritual strength. There are a wide range of benefits from karate training that can be gained without regular full-contact fighting. That said, we do believe that it is important for all student to experience contact kumite (sparring) at some point in their training.

You will see from the clips below that although many of the participants are just beginners, and some are not in the best of physical condition (yet), that no one gets injured and all of them have a good time! Please enjoy. (Note: It might take a couple days to get all the clips up. All the students want to see their fights!)

vido clips of kumite:

greg vs. carl
bajon vs. omar
ray vs. antoine
nick vs. steve
amy vs. samantha
devay vs. straugton
david vs. steve
anthony vs. devay
bajon vs. "zeus"
crystal vs. erin
eire vs. sharice
eire vs. woodrina
nydia vs. keshia
ray vs. eduardo

kata videos:

white belt kata 1
white belt kata 2
oshiro no kon bo kumi
oshiro no kon