Jasper and Tahlia's blackbelt adventure

The pair, who are the children of local business owner Michaela Pothan, practice Go Kan Ryu (GKR) karate, a style which was originally founded in South Australia in 1984. 

Mrs Pothan and her husband are also blackbelts in GKR, and the family has been practicing for seven and a half years. 

The grading was an intense affair; it went for four hours, over the course of which many people were tested for their blackbelts, or to go to a higher dan – which is a higher ranking blackbelt.

Mrs Pothan was “super proud” of both of her children, who she believes did extremely well in conditions which tested many of the adults who were grading. 

“They were the lowest belts to grade to black,” she said. “[It was] incredible to watch.” 

“It was nerve wracking, the majority of people there are adults … they’re pretty intense physically as well as mentally.” 

Adding to the physical stress of the grading itself was the conditions. Mrs Pothan likened the grading area to a sauna, and said that the rain and the heat combined to make an extremely uncomfortable environment. 

The conditions would have been particularly stressful for young Jasper in particular, who is only 11 years old. 

Mrs Pothan said that he would ordinarily have been too young to grade to blackbelt, however he is “pretty sharp”, and his skill level warranted an early grading. 

“We [had] to send him, he’s really good at what he does,” Mrs Pothan said. 

Both Jasper and Tahlia have excelled in their martial arts careers to date. 

The pair have competed all over Australia, from Queensland, to Melbourne, and even to Sydney in the Karate World Championships in 2013. 

However, this latest achievement required more intensive training than the two Yass children have ever been subject to before. 

“[They’ve done] a lot of extra training, been doing Tuesdays and Thursdays for the past 6 months in Canberra … [It’s been] pretty high intensity backbelt training,” Mrs Pothan said. 

“[They] don’t get drink breaks every ten minutes, we kind of push through.

“Jasper has enjoyed doing some training with [well known local boxer] Spider … particularly that’s improved his sparring.

“Tahlia’s done a bit of yoga with me.”

Aside from the physical aspect of their training, Mrs Pothan also said that “a lot of the work they’ve done has been more mental preparation”. 

Mental preparation has been a part of their training for as long as they have taken part in karate. 

The discipline places a huge emphasis on respect and humility, Mrs Pothan explained. 

She credited hers and the children’s sensei, Greg Olsen (who also graded to third dan), with instilling a strong sense of respect in the kids which served them well during the exam. 

“It’s very respectful, to bring your children into that environment,” Mrs Pothan said. “That was really important.”