Black belt Bailey is only nine!
Thursday, 11 September 2008
Nine Year old Bailey Devine pictured with his trophy and Terry Geddis, chief instructor. Bailey is thought to be the youngest Black Belt Karate holder in Northern Ireland.
BAILEY Devine is just nine years old and is in all likelihood the youngest black belt in the whole of Ireland.
Bailey, who trains in Ballymoney with Sensei Terry Geddis, has been attending the Zanshin Shotokan karate club since he was five, in fact Bailey had his very first lesson on his 5th birthday.
His mum Jolene Devine said: "My daughter Jordanna, now 11, had been attending the karate club each week and every time we went to drop her off Bailey wanted to participate. But the age limit is five so he had to wait. At the minute he trains three nights a week, but he would train five nights if I let him. He trains in Ballymoney, Coleraine and Ballysally where we live. He loves karate."
There are ten grades before reaching the black belt, with white, red, yellow and green included. Now that Bailey has reached his 1st Dan of black belt he will have to keep up his training for two years before he will be entered for his 2nd Dan.
Jolene explained: "There are age restrictions on when you can compete for your next Dan, usually two years in between each stage, but Bailey won't be able to compete for his 3rd Dan until he is 21. This enables the student and the teachers to see how committed they are to karate."
The Zanshin Shotokan Karate Club is part of the Karate Union of Great Britain (KUGB) and two of their chief instructors came over to present Bailey with his black belt. Sensei Andy Sherry who is the chief instructor and is 8th Dan, along with world champion Sensei Frank Brennan who is 6th Dan. Jolene said the judges were fascinated that Bailey was just nine and he made absolutely no mistakes when competing. He was up against a 12-year-old and his mum claims it was a very tough competition.
Bailey, who is in P6 at Ballysally PS, is also the youngest team member of the Northern Ireland squad and has travelled as far as Liverpool recently where he was placed 3rd. He also competed in the USKS champions in Dublin where he gained 2nd and 3rd place. To date Bailey has accumulated nine trophies and 15 medals for his club.
Jolene says that karate is a great confidence building sport, as Bailey had to compete on the floor with 40-year-old men. Karate doesn't have different levels so older men compete at the same level as the younger children.
Jolene added: "Sensei Terry Geddis is fantastic. He is excellent with children and encourages them to compete at all levels. Some people make the mistake of thinking karate is an expensive hobby, but it isn't any more expensive than say gymnastics. The sessions cost just £3.50 a time, but then there are membership and license fees, but that's just once a year. If the children stick the training out for 10 session, Terry gives their Gi (the clothing worn to participate in karate.)
Sensei Terry Geddis said: "Bailey is an up and coming star, he has a great future ahead of him at such a young age.
