It was another seminar/grading day, they seem to be coming around faster and faster. This one was about two and a half weeks after the last one, which is not really enough time to learn a grade. Well not if you want to actually know what you are doing, and not just try and fake your way through. So I decided to sit out the grading part of the day. I would have missed the whole day, but it was a Bagua seminar, so I fancied turning up for that.

So during the grading’s I sat back and watched what was going on, which was interesting since there was someone doing my grade, so it was good to be able to watch. Well would have been if he had actually done the moves as I have been taught, or had seen. It’s a good job I was not grading really, as I would have had to grade with him, and it would have looked very shabby with us both doing different things.

But, even with doing things in a different way, missing out several parts of the syllabus, he scored a respectable 96%. Which got me thinking, I am still the only person who has ever failed a grading since I started training, I have seen some very shoddy attempts, and some downright abysmal ones where even the basic manners were missing, Yet they all passed.

So why did I fail? Well it did not help that my grading partner refused to do the moves required for my training and kept insisting he should be doing other attacks. So I would ask for say a punch, and he would go “No I should kick you here”. And I am sure the person doing the grading who was my partners instructor also figured I should be doing the other moves.  It was insane since it is a fixed, global syllabus.

Ah well, I think I’ve just lost heart with the whole thing, I original joined due to the weapon training, which has now gone, and we are doing more of the sparring, grappling areas, which I have no interest in. Add to that the new syllabus being sparring biased, and the next stage involving fitness tests (if I wanted to do fitness training/tests I would have joined a gym) I am finding I enjoy less and less of the nights. I’ve already dropped down to two nights a week martial arts, one fencing.

I could do with re-finding some enjoyment in it soon:-

Ah well, such is life..