Thread: Rankings
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Old 03-28-2002, 10:03 AM   #4
Wayne
Dojo: Aikido of Madison
Location: Madison, WI
Join Date: Mar 2002
Posts: 37
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I am also quite new to aikido having started with a beginner course in February. I am struggling with my desire to work toward a test with the dojo requirements of 6+ months before 5th kyu. I understand that I will need quite a bit more time before I am as ready for my test as the two dojo mates who recently tested for 5th kyu. That's not a problem.

I have a competitive side to my personality and that is why I want to use a test (or, longer term, a sequence of tests!) to measure my ability.

To summarize a rather disjointed post, I think that the kyu testing can easily serve two purposes. (1) It helps fellow practitioners judge relative skill levels. (2) It helps each individual map their own progress toward whatever goal or goals they want.

As a final comment to (1), in one of my recent classes I was paired with a yudansha acting as uke doing some kind of choke hold while grabbing one of my wrists. I'm sure that this technique has a particular name (starting with ushiro?) but that doesn't really matter. Anyway, he held the choke quite hard so that I couldn't react as we had been shown. His point was that I needed to react sooner and that this was also a matter of timing. Most of the other senior students at the dojo have been quite nice about treating me gently, though.
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