Code Ninjas, the kids coding franchise, recently celebrated the accomplishments of one particular Ninja. After following in his brother’s footsteps to join Code Ninjas Enfield in 2021, in just 18 months, 11-year-old Ugur Recber has become the first on this side of the Atlantic to complete the nine-belt coding curriculum and earn the respected black belt status.
In order to reach black belt at Code Ninjas, Ugur completed nine courses, including JavaScript, Lua in Roblox, and C# in Unity. During the final black belt, he created his own game, which is now downloadable for the public.
Ugur found it challenging initially, but after beginning the at-home package, Code Combat, he found the determination and confidence to take on the challenges in the nine-belt CREATE programme.
“You learn to code to make your own games, and when your game is perfect you get three stars and when you are finished, it gets harder every time and more challenging,” says Ugur. “I am so proud to be the first black belt in the UK.”
Everything about Code Ninjas is built around fun, which keeps kids coming back. The curriculum is self-paced but not self-taught; kids get immediate help and encouragement from Code Senseis and fellow Ninjas as they advance from white to black belt on the nine-belt programme that makes up Code Ninjas CREATE.
Owen, Lead Sensei at Code Ninjas Enfield who helped train Ugur, says: “I can’t praise Ugur enough for his determination and attitude towards learning at the high level of challenges he had to overcome. His achievement is nothing short of outstanding. Well done, Ugur!”
At Code Ninjas, kids learn how to code in a safe, inclusive and social learning environment where gaming is celebrated and STEM is cool. Code Ninjas allows kids to dive into fun, challenging, and rewarding projects and activities that will engage them and bring out skill sets that will benefit them as they grow. Building the game at the end is an impressive feat and requires a lot of focus and effort to implement all that was learned in the previous eight belts.
“Earning your coding black belt at Code Ninjas takes dedication, perseverance and skill, all of which Ugur has demonstrated impeccably by becoming our first black belt Ninja in the UK,” says Justin Nihiser, CEO of Code Ninjas. “I’m so proud of the efforts of Ugur and the Code Ninjas Enfield Town team to become the first across the pond to achieve this impressive achievement. I can’t wait to see more Ninjas across the UK follow in Ugur’s footsteps.”
Ugur’s black belt project, Escape the Nightmare, sees players surviving for as long as they can whilst using different weapons from the shop, all while trying to get a high score.
