Head Instructor, Mr Brett Kraiger, was promoted to 4th degree black belt at the International Instructors Course in Auckland, on 6 March 2010.
There were 10 people grading, including 1 person to 8th Dan, 2 to 7th Dan, 2 to 5th Dan and 5 to 4th Dan. All were successful.
The examination was conducted by Grandmaster Pablo Trajtenberg, Grandmaster Hector Marano, and Grandmaster Wim Bos (9th Dan Black Belts).The grading was a challenging one, with the Grandmasters throwing quite a few unexpected requests into the grading to keep the candidates on their toes!
Click here to see the photos!
From Mr Kraiger...
"I owe a huge amount to the people who supported me through this grading. First and foremost is my wife, who put up with me being out of the house nearly every morning and night for the last 2 months. With two young children at home this has not been easy for her. She has been fantastic!
Special thanks to the instructors of the Spirit schools who accommodated me in their classes, allowing me to get all that valuable training in, but most importantly kept me going with their encouraging words, and of course the occasional kick up the backside as well! And to all those members and ex-members whose encouragement along the way played a huge part.
I definitely could not have done it without the help of Mr Aligul Ali and Mr Tony White. I decided that I needed to train in the mornings as well as in the evenings, and I needed a training partner to train with. Mr Ali agreed to help out in January, and later on I also asked Mr White to join us. They were training with me at 6:30am, four days a week. Again their encouraging words, and definitely more than the occasional kick up the backside, kept me on track. I have since discovered that Mr Ali was sometimes working until 2am or 3am, and still getting up to train with me at 6am. He only told me this a couple of days ago! So to you two... thank you very very much!"
