The Guyana Karate College (GKC) on Monday July 11, held the second of its second of three grading examinations for the year
at the Carifesta Sports Complex on Carifesta Avenue for students belonging to its dojos.
It was a special evening that was filled with passion, apprehension and grueling martial arts displays especially for the younger children many of whom undertook these grading examinations for the first time. The occasion coincided with the GKC’s tenth anniversary of its establishment, and for very first time the students were examined simultaneously by several high ranking officials of the world karate governing body the International Karate Daigaku (IKD), that is headquartered in Toronto, Canada.
The Canadian Judging team was led by Shuseki Shihan Frank Woon-a-Tai, the Guyanese-born Chairman and Chief Instructor of the IKD who is a 9th degree black belt with over fifty years of experience in karate-do, and included his wife Sensei Maureen Woon-a-Tai, an 8th Dan, Sensei David Pykea 7th Dan, Sensei Bernice Hughes a 7th Dan, Sensei Janice Pyke a 6th Dan, Sensei Michelle Woon-A-Tai a 4th Dan, and Sensei Ken Woon-a-Tai a 4th Dan. For the local examiners Sensei Jeffrey Wong a 6th Dan who is the Senior Instructor of the College along with Sensei Lavern Jones a 5th Dan were involved in grading the students.
The highpoint of these grading examinations for the GKC was the attainment of a Sandan rank or third degree black belt by Twelve year old Tyler Orderson, making him the youngest Karateka across the world under the umbrella of the IKD to accomplish this feat. This is his third record breaking achievement as he has also earned the accolades of being the youngest 1st degree black belt globally when he was a mere seven years old and the youngest 2nd degree black belt at nine years old.
Accompanying him in acquiring the sandan ranking was his batch mate, sixteen year old Alyssa Persaud, both of whom are A+ students of the prestigious Marian Academy. Additionally, obtaining the 3rd degree black belt were Leon Burnett and Roland Fanfair.
Attaining the Nidan Rank or second degree black belt was Jonathan Connelly of New Guyana School whilst gaining the Shodan rank or 1st degree black belt were Alyssa Ramotar also of Marian Academy and Kellisa Jupiter of Westfield Preparatory .
More than forty other Karatekas were promoted from 10thkyu all the way to 1stkyu with some of them performing exceptionally well skipping grades. Those included Jose Rodrigues skipping from 8thkyu to 6thkyu, Amber De Goeas from 8th to 6thkyu, Sophia Mittelholzer 7thkyu to 5thkyu, Somlata Bispat 7thkyu to 5thkyu, Sherlock Scott 7thkyu to 5thkyu Joshua Gibbs 7thkyu to 5thkyu.
It was an evening of deep pride and gratification for the Senior Instructor Sensei Jeffrey Wong who has dedicated the last ten years of his life to the development of karate-do in Guyana and the Guyana Karate College. Sensei Wong saw the GKC developing from scratch growing quickly into a leading martial arts institution in the country with the enviable record of bringing back the most medals for Guyana at the Caribbean, South American and World Championships in addition to excelling at many local tournaments in individual and team kumite, kata, bunkai and enbu.
He along with the Chairman of the IKD Master Frank Woon-a-Tai whose main goal is to be of service to young people throughout the world by helping them find direction in life, met with the parents and the Karatekas after the grading session where the updated them of the progress of the GKC and the plans for the future including the completion of its new headquarters and main dojo at Liliendaal, East Coast Demerara. He also touched on the enlargement of its student population and the expansion of tailored training options for females, business persons and preparing for the possibility of Karate-do debuting in the Tokyo Olympics in 2020.
