Student of the Year Awards 2014

The Saturday Morning class congratulate Kelvin McDonald and Dominic Mills.

 

E.S.K.K Martial Arts and Fitness celebrated it's 10th birthday just a few weeks ago.  For every one of those years the group has voted for a "Student of the Year".  For the first 8 years, this was for senior students only, but last year a second award for juniors was introduced.

So, what's so special about this award?  Well, it's special because it's voted for by all members of our karate clubs and the "winners" reflect the overall feeling of the club.  While Founder and Chief Instructor Chris Denwood has the final say, it's always a real honour to be selected by your peers.

Unlike the formal grading system, where rank is awarded based heavily on technical examination, this award is more about how the student trains, how they support their fellow students, how they represent the dojo and how they consistently push through perceived limits to be the very best they can be.

---

At our 10th Annual Celebrations Evening, Kelvin McDonald (5th Kyu) was announced as our new Senior Student of the Year.  Kelvin has progressed well over the past year and performed as part of our demo team at the Martial Arts Expo in Coventry.  He had also recently travelled to Okinawa with us to train karate with some of the senior masters on the island.

As his name was announced, Kelvin was pretty much lost for words.  Fellow students had been impressed with Kelvin's dedication to the art and his attitude in the dojo.  For instance, one of our new beginners said that Kelvin had made them so welcome and offered such selfless support that they didn't feel like a white belt at all.  This is truly the the spirit that E.S.K.K engenders.

The Junior award was announced at the Whitehaven class on Saturday 17th May and it was young Dominic Mills' turn to be surprised!

Dominic also performed in our demo team last year in Coventry and had reached 5th Kyu rank with an exceptional grading performance.  Dominic is a rare young man, with the dedication he shows each week in the dojo standing as a fine inspiration for other members.  As one of our members commented, "Dominic is a ray of karate sunshine that always makes me smile!"  Indeed, if he continues on this path he will have a very bright future in karate.

On behalf of us all at E.S.K.K Martial Arts and Fitness, we'd like to extend our congratulations to both Kelvin and Dominic on awards well deserved!

Dave F

---

For more information about our Student of the Year Award and to see our 'Hall of Fame', please visit the link below...

http://www.eskk.co.uk/student-of-the-year.html