🎉 Congratulations to Our 2025 Summer Grading Achievers! 🎉

A huge well-done to all the students who stepped onto the floor for the 2025 Summer Grading at Gold Coast Chito-Ryu Karate! Your hard work, commitment, and spirit were on full display, and we are incredibly proud of every one of you who earned your next rank. 🥋✨

To those who were told “not yet” — remember, this is not a setback, but a sign that your instructors believe in your potential and want to see you reach your best. Keep training with focus, keep showing up, and keep pushing toward your goals. Your time is coming, and when it does, it will mean even more. 💪🔥

Grading is not just about the belt — it’s about growth, resilience, and becoming stronger in both mind and body. Congratulations again to all who graded, and encouragement to all who continue the journey.

Let’s keep striving, supporting one another, and moving forward together! 🥋🌟


Successful Grades:

5 Kyu – Damien Kloot (Purple & White)
6 Kyu – Henry Ho (Blue)
7 Kyu – Aidan Connolly (Blue & White)
7 Kyu – Airi Tani (Blue & White)
8 Kyu – Rowan Beste (Green)
8 Kyu – Henry Duyvestyn (Green)
10 Kyu – Kewan Clegg (Orange)
10 Kyu – Quinn McDonald (Orange)
10 Kyu – Christopher Wilkinson (Orange)
11 Kyu – Abigail Hurtig (Orange & White) **Double Grade**
11 Kyu – Monique Clegg (Orange & White) **Double Grade**
12 Kyu – Peter Koolhoven (Yellow)
12 Kyu – Letizia Di Somma (Yellow)
12 Kyu – Kiyana Koolhoven (Yellow)
12 Kyu – Jake Lee (Yellow)
12 Kyu – Rebecca Montgomery (Yellow)

The final grading of what has been an interesting year saw a very interesting grading with a range of results.

In our White belt and Yellow belt grading we saw some solid performances with the majority of students successfully moving up the ranks.

In these first groups of the grading we also had a few students with previous rankings in other styles. At the Gold Coast dojo students who arrive from another style of martial arts are asked to wear a white belt as they have no rankings in Chito-Ryu Karate. Whilst wearing their white belt they are assessed on their skill levels, their ability to adapt to and adopt the Chito-Ryu technique, and also on their character and humility. From their these students are grading to the level deemed appropriate for them to learn the Chito-Ryu skills building blocks required for continual development.

Developing the correct building blocks for Chito-Ryu karate is essential, if everything is in place and working well then the student will make steady continual progress. If a building block is not in place then somewhere down the track things will begin to fall apart and progress will stall. In this grading a number of students were told “not yet”. Whilst this can be a hard experience for the student (it is also hard for the instructor), the time taken to get these building blocks solidly in place will eventually lead to achieving the black belt goal faster than if they had been passed for this grading.  If you were unsuccessful in this grading continue to work hard and focus on getting those building blocks in place and you will be ready for the next opportunity to step up to grade.

Congratulations to the following on successfully passing your grading:

12 Kyu (Yellow) – Charli Hyland
12 Kyu (Yellow) – Daisy Ridley
12 Kyu (Yellow) – Henry Duyvestyn
12 Kyu (Yellow) – Isabella du Plessis
12 Kyu (Yellow) – Nicolette Ridley
12 Kyu (Yellow) – Sienna Bauer
12 Kyu (Yellow) – Skye Wright
11 Kyu (Orange & White) – Francis Guillon  *Double Graded
11 Kyu (Orange & White) – Jesse Barker  *Double Graded
11 Kyu (Orange & White) – Tom Allibone  *Double Graded
11 Kyu (Orange & White) – Aissa Symons
11 Kyu (Orange & White) – David Ford
11 Kyu (Orange & White) – Max Chattin
11 Kyu (Orange & White) – Sam Peddie
11 Kyu (Orange & White) – Tilly McMillan
10 Kyu (Orange) – Adam Glachan  *Triple Graded
10 Kyu (Orange) – Kayden Kloot
10 Kyu (Orange) – Millicent Mansbridge
10 Kyu (Orange) – Sienna Curtis
9 Kyu (Green & White) – Addison Schnebli
9 Kyu (Green & White) – Cooper Shaw
9 Kyu (Green & White) – Erika Baritchi
8 Kyu (Green) – Byron Corbelli
4 Kyu (Purple) – Merryn Jaffers