Black Belt Success for Johnson’s Karate

After a 4 hour gruelling test of stamina mentally and physically, 6 year old Joel Waring became Master Johnson’s youngest ever black belt.

For the last 3 years Joel has tirelessly trained every day and attended every lesson, sometimes 7 sessions a week and only to miss 1 training session due to a hand operation, but the very next day he was back in the dojan training the best he could. His passion for karate is incredible for someone of his age. Last year he travelled to Stratford-Upon-Avon and trained with the masters and recently attended a 2 hour seminar in Knaresborough, North Yorkshire.

The week prior to his test Joel put in every ounce of his spare time perfecting his moves until each form was as faultless as possible. All this effort, dedication and time finally came and on the 13th of August Joel’s test day was set.

From the get go he was bombarded with a string of moves to perform in the first hour, an endurance test in itself! Not stopping for a rest was another hours worth of forms which had to be completed without fault. A task to see if what Joel has learned is ingrained in his brain. And to find this out Joel was set on by trying to confuse him while he was going through his routine, which was not routine anymore! Mentally demanding and physically exhausted. he could not show any sign of weakness.

For an Adult this is hard enough, sometimes failing the test at this point, but Joel carried on and on doing each move faultless. Also to see if Joel’s knowledge of the Arts was acceptable he was asked a series of questions about the past history of the arts origins to the Korean language (Karate’s dominant spoken language) With this knowledge Joel would be able to travel in any foreign country and train in their dojans and still perform with the others.

The last hour was the sparing and fitness test. Shattered to begin with was no excuse and military style exercises had to be performed. On top of this more questioning to see if he was still mentally capable.

Chief Instructor Master Johnson said “What Joel showed to me that day was extraordinary, never in my career have I seen such dedication, especially from such a young lad. His speed and mental focus is phenomenal and as such for his outstanding work I awarded him with a Dan Grade.”

Now that Joel has 2 of his wishes come true (gaining Dan Grade and to be Master Johnson’s youngest ever black belt) What’s next for Joel! He’s already set his sights on the next Dan Grading and the Olympics.

For the first time the 2020 games will hold Karate as an event but Joel will be too young to compete that year, so for now it’s more training and fingers crossed if he carries on the way he is now, we could be seeing a future British and world champion in the making, just as Master Johnson achieved back in 1993.