Senpai Brad Cook - Welcome to Yudansha..

[blackdog]

Osu,

On Saturday 14th June, Brad Cook (Bcook) graded to Shodan.

Brad's goal (in a private email to me during the week, sorry Sempai, had to share) was to work hard enough to "own" the grading.

Apparently, he did.

I say apparently because i am on leave (in Bali - yay!) and i missed it. But according to a few text messages, Sempai Brad di d really well.

Congrats Sempai Cooky!

Cant wait to line up against you as a Shodan, it has always been an honour to square up with you, but with that gold bar... all the better

Bren

[Dent]

Osu!

Congratulations on passing this milestone. Arguably one of the most important along the journey.

Osu!

[vapor]

Great news, enjoy a virtual pat on the back and a huge OSU!

vapor

[ksan]

Congratulations,... hope you made some memories on that grading


Osu

[Bloke]

Well done Brad - any chance of coming on and telling us how it was?

[kyokushin4life]

Congrats Brad! Osu!

[Lucy]

Well done Brad! Great news, a day you'll never forget

[seienchin]

Congratulations. Lucy is right...you will never forget it, and even better, the knowledge of what you achieved can be carried with you to fortify you as you face other challenges in life. It is something that can never be taken away.

[BCook]

Osu everyone!

wow.. totally blown away when i jumped on here this morning!

Thanks Bren!!

i have decided the easiest way is to copy and paste an article i wrote for our newsletter, for reference my partner is Sensei Narelle Lovell Sandan, and she is one hard Lady!

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My Shodan Grading
By Brad Cook

4 o’clock in the morning on Saturday the 14th of June and i'm wide awake staring at the ceiling, thoughts of good luck emails and advice from my instructors running through my mind and a nervous energy coursing through my body, not letting me rest. This time in 12 hours it will be all over I think to myself, but for now I need to relax. It doesn’t happen and i’m bouncing around the kitchen at 7am eating a hand full of pasta and some slices of toast and sipping on some water, trying not to think that in a few hours I will embark on a test that has seemed at times a very long way off, but is now rushing towards me at a million miles an hour and even if I wanted to, I cant get out of the way. It has been a tough and torrid 6 months lead up to this day and I have had to delve deep into both my mind and spirit to stay focused on the goal.

Arriving at the dojo I am greeted by the handful of people already there, the amount of good luck emails and support I received literally blew me away and was quite unexpected but I am eternally grateful that throughout what was at times a very lonely lead up I had the well wishes of those people behind me.

I knew I would struggle through the fights, I mean really that’s the whole point isn’t it? you don’t want to do them easy, you want them to take every ounce of strength you have, and then a bit more just to survive them.. knowing this I went out hard in the basics, full power behind every technique and was in a drenching sweat by the time we got to the kicks. Onto the ido geiko and I was feeling ok but a little slow, my thoughts were echoed by Shihan Robbie during the next drink break and I went back out there with a new determination to push even harder. By the time we reached the kata section I was struggling with an enormously dry mouth and was hanging out for the next drink break, which seems a long way off when your doing the 1st of 3 kicking kata in ura and then tate! I was trying very hard to keep the momentum up but was conscious of the fact my effort was dropping. A timely break before the solo section had me firing on all cylinders again, which was just as well as being out by yourself is a daunting task at the best of times, more so when your blindfolded for part of it!!

It was time to start that fights, and id say 5 seconds into the first one I realized that there was going to be no taking it easy and slowly easing into it… it was game on and in a big way! The first 20 seemed to take forever and I tried not to think about anything but the fight I was in at the time, trying not to think about how many I had done and how many I had left to do, which is quite hard when every 5th fight has been reserved for your partner to jump in and inflict as much pain as possible. The last 20 fights seemed to go rather quickly, which was surprising as I was alone out there, i’m not sure if it was the thought of being halfway or that I wasn’t quite with it at that point that seemed to pass the time quicker. I will remember my last 5 fights forever. 5th last with Sensei Narelle, 4th last with Sempai Katie, 3rd with Sempai Jo, 2nd with Shihan Robbie, and the look on his face when I questioned him after our round if it was too late to pull out, and of course my last fight with Sempai Leigh. Such an honour to be fight these very special people for my last fights and be welcomed into the yudansha by such fine examples.

Thank you to everyone that cheered, yelled and helped me along that day, your support will never be forgotten. My goal is to now, once again, do honour to the new belt I wear around my waist and show everyone that their time, effort and support where justified.

OSU!!

Sempai Brad Cook

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it was the hardest day of my life so far, but also the most rewarding..

i enjoyed every single moment of it, almost to the point of wanting to do it agian... must be the euphoria tainting my rational thinking!

OSU!

[Dent]

Osu!

Thank you for giving us this report. It's great to be able to share the experience, even from thousands of miles away.

Osu!

[hasbeen]

congratulations, great post...if that doesn`t inspire people nothing will !

[vapor]

Thank you for writing down your thoughts surrounding this milestone! Being able to articulate your thoughts and feelings of the day, is a huge undertaking!

vapor

[strongman1]

Osu Osu
Sempai Brad Cook well done welcome to the world of shodan

[BCook]

couple of pics guys:

Tensho:


Stamina:


Blindfolded kata:


The grading group:

[BCook]

Kumite:

[vapor]

Great pics! Thanks for adding them!

vapor

[BCook]

couple more:

getting bashed by the missus:


Last fight with one of my instructors, Sempai Leigh Harry, Nidan:

[niceguy]

Originally Posted by BCook

couple more:

getting bashed by the missus:

The pick of the bunch I think!Nice one. Well done on making shodan Brad.Ous from London

[Dent]

Osu!

Great pics, Brad! Nice of the wife not to sneak in the old frying pan, as I'm sure mine would.

Osu!

[hasbeen]

brad, the missus was wide open to a knee in the guts what happend?