2026-06-10

Teaching my regular classes at the Ross Farnsworth - East Valley YMCA.

We had a small kyu exam tonight with four students testing for 9th, 8th, 7th, and 6th kyu. As usual, I withhold results over the weekend, not to string anyone along, but so that I can write up individualized feedback for each examinee and compare it to their previous exam feedback to identify any long-running issues that need extra attention.

With the time we had left I ran everyone, of every rank, through the shodan exam, because one of my students will be taking that exam on June 20 as part of the American Shotokan Karate Summer clinic and dan exam. The yellow belts were struggling … of course they were … but that was the point. It’s hard, and it’s supposed to be hard.