12/09/2026
My biggest frustration running a martial arts school right now!
🥋 “Is my child in for their karate grading?”
As an instructor, sometimes the answer has to be:
Not at the moment.
This weeks conversation!!!
Parent: Is my child in for the next grading?
Sensei: It’s now 10th September, and I still haven’t seen your child back in class.
In fact, we’ve checked and their last training session was 8th July!
That’s over TWO MONTHS without training.
Yet sometimes we’re still asked:
“Are they grading?” 🤷♂️
This is where parents need to understand that grading is NOT an automatic invite!
Just because a student has been a certain belt for the required amount of time does not automatically mean they are ready for the next one.
🥋 Consistency plays a massive part.
We need to see them training.
We need to see their technique.
We need to see their improvement.
We need to see that they remember their syllabus.
And most importantly, we need to be confident that they are ready to attempt the grading.
If we haven’t seen a student train for weeks or months, how can we fairly assess whether they’re ready?
Grading isn’t something you are simply due.
It is something you work towards and earn.
We completely understand that families have holidays, school breaks and other commitments — especially over the summer. ☀️
But time away from training still has an impact.
As instructors, our responsibility isn’t to put every student forward because a grading date has arrived.
Our responsibility is to make sure the student standing in front of the examiner is READY.
💛🖤 Attendance. Consistency. Progress. Readiness.
They ALL matter.
ALL IN OR NOTHING AT ALL. 🥋!
