Two students from a Manx dojo have been graded with their black belts in aikido.

James Croft and Stan Kopacz received the accreditation at a seminar held at the NSC last weekend overseen by Sensei Mick Mercer.

The two men are part of Shobukai Aikido Isle of Man, run by married couple, Karen and Stephen Mercer.

To be awarded with their black belts, or shodan, the first awarded to students of the club, James and Stan had to demonstrate their knowledge and ability of a variety of techniques.

Mr and Mrs Mercer, who run the club, were also recognised during the weekend, as they were both graded third dan.

The club’s success was recognised further as it was presented with a certificate to confirm its recognition as an official dojo of the Aikido Yoshinkan Foundation in Japan.

Black belt

Mr and Mrs Mercer also received a certificate from the Yoshinkan Foundation which means that they can test students up to first level black belt.

Mrs Mercer said: ’We are very proud and this is a great achievement after a lot of hard work to grow our school, which is the only school on the island who train in the Yoshinkan style.

’The grading involved doing kamea, which is our basic stance, showing some basic movements, some predetermined basic techniques and some random basic techniques.

’Then finally at the higher level tests we do jiyu waza which is a freestyle technique and more dynamic than the basic techniques.

’Although the curriculum can look very similar, the standard required and level of detail within the techniques is much higher at third dan than would be required for first dan.’