Black belt testing is only held twice per year.  Daniel Sher was the only black belt candidate testing this last November.  He went through 3 months of Black Belt preparatory classes, which were held Saturdays from 12 – 1.  These classes are mandatory for black belt testing candidates, and show testers what to expect for their black belt test.

Daniel Sher started Uechi Ryu Karate in October 2005 at the Frederick Carbon Valley Recreation Center.  Originally he trained under Kyoshi Allen Bennett and Sensei Amanda Bennett, but later became a student of Sensei Richard Bennett after the Frederick school was left to him in 2008.  At 14 yrs old, and 4 years later, Daniel Sher received his junior 1st degree black belt.  Full black belts are only awarded at the minimum age of 16, so Daniel will have to test again for his full black belt in 2 years.

The black belt test was scheduled to be on November 16th, but had to be rescheduled to November 30th instead because of weather complications and various black belt testing board members becoming ill.  The test began at approximately 2pm and lasted about 40 minutes.  The black belt testing board members included:

Sensei Richard Bennett
Kyoshi Allen Bennett
Sensei Ethan Bennett
Sensei Bill Haggard

Special thanks also to David Tieben for helping us score the test, and to Aaron Haggard for being Daniel’s partner on various testing items.