💪 Good luck to everyone taking their grading exam today, you got this 🥊😀👍

Courtney Weston, kickboxing student and daughter of coach Antony is sadly suffering from cancer - as we’re one big family at Derbyshire Kickboxing, members of the instructing and Coaching Team are doing 30,000 kicks across 30 days in March to raise money for both Cancer Research, MacMillan Cancer Support and Courtney 👍💪 please use the QR code below or link https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/kicking-for-courtney?utm_term=kXrbqwpjE to support this great caise

📣 Confirmed exam times for the grading taking place at Belper on Sunday 9th March 📣

🔴 Juniors taking Red belt = 9:00 till 9:45
🟡🟠 Juniors taking Yellow and Orange belt = 10:00 till 10:45
🔴🟡🟠 Adults taking Red, Yellow & Orange belts = 11:00 till 11:45
🟢🔵🟣🟤 Juniors taking Green, Blue, Purple and Brown belt = 12:00 till 1:00
🟢🔵🟣🟤 Adults taking Green, Blue, Purple and Brown belt = 1:15 till 2:30

Please speak to your instructor to confirm your exam time - please be aware, late comers will not be permitted to start their exam ⛔️

Good luck everyone 💪😀🥋

What happens at a PKA grading exam? 🤔

Grading for a kickboxing belt can seem daunting, but your coaches will have prepared you in class for every step of the grading. Here’s what happens on the day:

🥊 Shadow work: we start with everyone showing off their shadow kickboxing moves! This is where you show what punches, kicks, movement and evasion you know without a partner holding pads. We’re looking for flowing moves, a good guard and pivots on all techniques.

🥊 Padwork routine: The coaches will give everyone a demo of a short padwork routine to work on in pairs. For higher grades, one of these will be a freestyle routine made up by you to show off your skills and how well you can hold pads. For some students, we might pair students with coaching team members.

🥊 Kickshields: You will be given both technical and power kicks to do on a kickshield. Keep your energy and guard up and give these kicks all you’ve got!

🥊 Grading sets: Our junior members will complete the first two foundation sets plus the two appropriate for awarding their next belt. Adults will complete all the grading sets across the whole syllabus in pairs. Don’t rush through these, we’re looking for energy plus great technique.

Bow out: After all your hard work, Mike Haig, founder of the PKA and association principal who oversees each grading to ensure we are all kept to the same high national standard, will bow you out.

What happens next?
Your kickboxing coach will receive feedback on how you did on the day and if you passed. If you did pass, you’ll be told if it was a Pass, Merit or Distinction mark and awarded your belt at the end of the your next class 🥳 You’ll also receive a certificate and important feedback notes to take forwards to your next grading exam

Our next grading is Sunday March 9th 📆 looking forwards to seeing you there 👍🥊😀

Don’t forget, the first grading exam of the year is just round the corner (Sunday 9th March) make sure your coach knows you are aiming for that next belt and have your paperwork in progress 👍💪🥊😀

🥊💪😀 Exciting year ahead for Derbyshire Kickboxing with dates already secured for our main events - more in the pipeline which will be shared once confirmed

Happy New Year to everyone associated to our clubs 🎉 what an amazing 2024 we’ve had with:

🌟 258 new Red to Brown belts graded and awarded
🥊 33 students stepping onto the mats to compete in the interclub tournaments
🥋 13 new Black Belt 1st Dans
🥋 1 new Black Belt 2nd Dan
🥋 2 new Black Belt 3rd Dans
🏆 13 new members of the Coaching Team
🎊 1 new instructor joining the team

What an amazing place Derbyshire Kickboxing is to learn martial arts! 😀 thanks for all your hard work this year and here’s to an even bigger 2025 🎉

Merry Christmas to all our students, their families and friends 🎅 thanks for making our clubs a family and such a great place to learn martial arts 🥋🎁 love from all the instructing and coaching team