By Dawda Baldeh
Jadu’s Karate Academy in Lamin Village has recently held a karate grading exam for 48 students who are promoted to various ranks at a ceremony graced by Karate masters, parents, students, and spectators.
The exam focuses on grading students from white belt to yellow, from yellow belt to orange, from orange to green belt, from green to blue, and from blue to brown.
Speaking at the grading ceremony, Omar H. O Saidykhan, the President of The Gambia Karate Association expressed excitement for witnessing the exam which he described as a success involving the participation of a school.
“I’m proud to see students participating in Karate because it will help to inculcate discipline in them.
“I was impressed with their performance and seeing them pass the exam is commendable,” he said.
Mr. Saidykhan further commended Jadu’s school for their affiliation with the Karate Association in the country.
According to him, Karate will help the participating students to be a better person in the future.
He also used the occasion to motivate the karate students citing the Gambia’s median participation in the recently concluded West African Karate competition in Guinea Conakry where they came out second.
“This is the first time the Gambia participated in a West African Karate competition and the outcome was impressive,” he said.
The Karate Association President further urged the students to always be respectful and disciplined to achieve their goals.
He described Katate as a sporting discipline that goes beyond fighting.
“I want other schools to include Karate in their curriculums to help the sport grow,” he said.
“Sport will keep the children busy and they will abstain from other illicit activities such as drug abuse and theft.”
Muhammed Touray, Secretary General of Jadu’s Karate Academy, described karate as an important sport that has the potential to change the narrative and engage young people in productive sport.
“The exam was very successful and all the students have passed it after an intensive process,” Touray said.
He challenged the students to continue the hard work and prepare for the other levels ahead.
Master Mamadou Jallow, trainer at Jadu’s Karate Academy spoke on the importance of learning karate in the context of sport and discipline.
“I have been training the kids for the past years and we have made significant progress.
“Karate is not only about fighting it’s a sport that inculcates discipline in anyone who learns it.
“If you learned Karate you will be a very peaceful person and you don’t fight easily,” he explained.
Master Jallow emphasized the importance of this sport saying it helped people to develop rapid thinking and analysis.
“Karate is all about calculation, you will think and act fast if you learned it,” he added.
He commended Jadu’s for offering him the opportunity to serve as the school karate academy trainer.
“I can tell you since I started training with the kids most of them took first in their exams.
“Karate will improve someone’s thinking and it’s very good,” Jallow included.
