blackbelt

PaSaRyu is translated "way of honor." It was developed my Master H. Rhee in 1956. Kang Rhee studied under Master Nam Suk Lee (1953-1956) and Master Chul Hee Park (1957-1954) and then came to the USA in 1964 and establised the PaSaRyu Marial Artist Association. PaSaRyu is based on the techniques of Shudokan karate, TaeKwonDo, Chuan Fa (kung Fu) and Hapkido.** The PaSaRyu system places emphasis on physical conditioning, balance, agility and the constant refinement of techniques. Techniques have emphasis placed on the movements being big, deep and natural. We also practice the development of KI (vital energy), healing techniques and the use of weapons.** **The above info was taken from my martial arts handbook and from my school's website. Like you said, this style is fairly new and there are very few schools around the country that teach it. The main schools are located in TN (quite a few here as well as the Kang Rhee headquarters), WI (my school is here and it's the only one in the state) and Oklahoma. The Oklahoma school has a great informational web, the link is http://www.pasaryuofoklahoma.com/ I hope this answers some of your questions, and if you'd like to know more, just let me know.

In my school, our classroom is closed off from the gym part, but we have two windows so parents or people in the gym can watch. But the windows also have blinds so if the students get distracted, the blinds can be closed so their are no distractions.

In my school, our belt ranking is, as you said, based on the student's skill and proficency in technique, but we also use a point system. Each day a student comes, they get three points. And for each belt rank, we have a minimum number of points that is required to advance. This helps the students realize that they have time to work/practice/refine their techniques and it also keeps a good pace so students aren't being promoted too fast. But just because they may earn the minimum amount of required points, doesn't mean that they'll get advanced, it depends on their technique too. In my class we also have a stripe system as well. For each rank we have a list of required techniques within several categories such as form, kicks, breaks, knowledge and defense. And whenever a student demonstrates understanding of all the techniques in one category, they'll recieve a stripe. This gives them the sense of accomplishment that is essential in keeping kids motivated and interested. A possible idea for your "tots" class (6-9yrs) that we use in our school is that this is a seperate class just for young students untill they can join the youth class. In my school these kids work up in degree of white belt (I think we have like 8 degrees of white belt with the stripes running down the middle). They advance in rank by skill and good behavior. And then when they reach the age in which they can go to the youth class, then there next promotion gives them a yellow belt and they're now on the regular belt system. We also give them the choice to keep that stripe on all of their colored belts so they can display their achivements. Maybe some of these suggestions will be useful

Any PaSaRyu practitioners out there? I've been training in PaSaRyu for a little more than four years and i'm a first degree blackbelt.

A promotion is to demonstrate to the instructor what he already knows you can do well. Remember we instructors have selected to promote you because we've seen your best and we know you can do it. Just give it you best. Best of luck!