masterphoenix

Does anyone know a supplier that stocks the degree patches for belts? I've seen some black and gold ones in the past that were roman numerals, that way a student could keep their same belt, but change the patch as they changed dans.

I never do them online... I draw it out, make notes about what thread color I want each line, belt size, belt width, belt style, etc, and then I fax it to them.

Century's belts are firm, but very thing, and they burn them off at the ends instead of hemming. This hard, sharp plastic edge can amount to injuries, particularly in grappling or ground drills. One of these sharp edges scratched someone's eye. We always shoot for stitched belts. I like Golden Tiger's belts and Asian World's. For black belts, I always use Sang Moo Sa and get the deluxe quality if they don't want to spend the big bucks. If they do, I always go for Eosin Panther.

Do you publish a catalog then?

Glad to hear it. I had 2 years worth of nothing but nightmares with them after Rand left. I left a message for the owner at the East Coast facility, and they never even returned my call.

I've never seen anything in 25 years that beats Eosin...

Haha. Too funny.

I hope people will at least discuss specific things they do or don't like instead of being insulting or passing condemnation. This kind of questioning walks a thin line. There is another message forum I really dislike where the majority of what they do is find something to pick on about other schools. This board is very decent. I'll be interested to see how people handle this question.

Amen. The law favors criminals, at least in the U.S. You're even put into question if you hurt someone who has broken into your house, even though it's supposed to be legal to use force against them. If it's proven that someone has broken into your house or initiated unwarranted violence, what you did to end the situation should never be put in question.

Interesting post. I think a lot of people would benefit from having options about the intensity of training.

At this time, all of our affiliated classes are held in fitness centers, churches and public schools, so unfortunately, the wall thing won't work for us, but it was a good idea. Thanks for taking the time to suggest it.

Sounds very human to me, after doing the same thing for years. Most senior instructors I know don't teach beginners anymore. I don't think there's any dishonor in moving on to allow lower ranked students to run things and focusing your experience on the higher ranked ones. This seems to be a pretty natural trickle down effect. Some long time instructors will be out on the floor with beginners and some won't. I don't think it's anything you should be hard on yourself about.

The manual will be split into a younger and an older class. The older class begins at about age 12. This list is fantastic, and does contain some things I hadn't thought of yet. Thanks for the contribution!

I am looking for topics for a book I am writing for our instructors and assistants. This book explains the objectives of each belt level, requirements and offers structured lesson plan templates so that things are changing, exciting and progressing toward our goals. I'm going to cover all aspects of classroom training such as flexibility, strengthening, open hand techniques, kicks, self-defense, sparring, etc - everything that goes on in the classroom. I'm going to give a wide variety of drills for achieving skill in every area for the purpose of preventing student boredom and class stagnation, while keeping things on track in the bigger picture. I will offer at least 20 lesson plan templates, with instructions for creating more templates, so that classes are at least somewhat planned out for 30 days in advance. If you were writing such a manual, what subjects would you include? What drills? What games? What would you say to staff who might be responsible for running classes by themselves, classes not separated by belt rank?

I'm trying to get away from inkjet printed certificates because we have had a few incidents where they were presented to someone with sweaty hands and the ink smeared, or something in the bag had some moisture to it and caused some smearing. The kind of stock we use generally repels water pretty well, the ink does not. I'm going to switch to a laser printer, but I need a color printer with auto duplexing at a reasonable price. Any suggestions?

I know exactly what you're talking about on the back of the belt, and I'm one of those people that doesn't like to see the embroidery come through on that side. For that reason I've typically had my belts done at Eosin Panther, but they are very expensive.

Interesting point. I'm in California, so I've never dealt with the Tennessee facility. It hadn't occurred to me that things might be vastly different. Sales team turnover in CA isn't bad. They have, on occasion, backordered something and not told us, but our orders are large enough that we have other things that arrive in a couple days with the backorder noted on the invoice. We've never been left hanging with no contact. Thanks for mentioning this. My wife keeps telling me we should make this a priority. Our business is almost all to instructors, so I know she's right, but there are so many other projects in the works. I'll keep this in mind though. What are you selling?

Thank you for this clarification. I did not remember correctly. This has been such a confusing detail of Korean/English translation for me. In my TKD organization, "master" is a title one is eligible for at 4th Dan. Despite my 28 years of training, I'm not there yet. (Long story). In my org., we wear a braided stripe on our left sleeve for every 4 years of training. I have more braids on my left sleeve than some 4th Dans have years on the planet. They show my deference & call me "sir." I do not ask them to do so. They have learned that, in Korea, the length of time one has trained is more esteemed than rank achieved. My KJN ALWAYS refers to me as "Mr." in every discussion, email or correspondence. He does this out of respect. His custom is to refer to his students by the titles they have earned under him. Regardless of what title I'm given, "Mr." will be what my students call me. I know many masters for whom the title fits. I also know many for whom it does not. It's sad that the Korean terms didn't get translated into English well back in the day. We would have less of these issues. Chung Do Kwan? Did I read that right? Are you by any chance with the Edward B. Sell group?

Well said, and simple to remember. I wish that kind of teaching flexibility came easily. It's very hard to teach some people even when they sincerely want to learn. ADD/ADHD, Autism, Asperger's, and ODD (Oppositional Defiance Disorder I think? Fairly new, but WHOAH... They will argue with you, insult you, walk away from you and all sorts of other stuff.) can be very challenging, in addition to finding ways to teach the average student in class. Teaching the children with disabilities sure can be a challenge (I have to admit I'm not a big fan of inclusion in classrooms for the exact reasons you mentioned, but I tend to keep my beliefs on that to myself-- it's not PC for an elementary school teacher to be against inclusion, although I've found many are). As for the conduct disorders, being an optional program, I probably just wouldn't accept them into my class. If a kid was going to insult me and argue with me, I'd say he wouldn't be welcomed (in fact, in our school district those are the kids who are in a seperate classroom. The kids with every other disorder under the sun are placed in mainstream classes, but the kids with severe emotional/conduct disorders are seperated into their own classroom). I wonder if they offer classes on that stuff for leaders of after school programs. That'd be an awesome community adult education class-- differentiation in youth programs. I agree totally. One of my assistants is a 2nd grade teacher of 30 years, way before they lost the ability to separate by learning potential. It hasn't worked, and everyone suffers from an inability to go at a pace suited for their cognitive abilities, except perhaps those in the middle for whom the compromised pace may be suitable. I have had to tell a few parents that their child just wasn't able to keep up, either because of learning level or behavioral challenges, and you can't make an entire class suffer and lose interest for one student. It's a difficult situation and there's hardly any way to be PC about it. It's difficult for everyone. It would be great if there were special seminars for teaching those with special challenges so we could be better armed, and perhaps able to offer classes just for that category.

Not at all. I'm always thankful that people take the time to respond in kindness. I wouldn't feel comfortable awarding myself any rank since there are established ways to go about getting it, even if it is a rocky road right now due to my circumstances. I know all rank is created anyway, but there are too many 30 and 40 year old self-proclaimed 10th dans with a green belt's experience. It's just something I wouldn't be comfortable with. I will keep exploring options.

I was wondering if anyone can provide ideas for innovative ranking or encouragement. I don't want to go so far as to condition my students to having something handed to them every week and being seen as a McDojo, but it does seem that the majority of effective teachers I've seen today have expanded their ranking systems in some way. I see schools that have nineteen belt changes before black. I don't want that, it means they are changing belts at a rate of every month (at least in the time it takes to get black there.) I might want to expand the forms of recognition a student receives to make it a little more frequent for encouragement, but I don't want anyone's ego to be inflated, or anyone to train on the basis of being handed something all the time either. I recognize that the rank system has a job to do in bringing someone to black belt and hopefully helping them to become a lifetime martial artist. In that recognition, it is my opinion that the colored belts only matter so much. What makes them legit or not is whether or not they have helped to create a quality martial artist and black belt. I am willing to make some changes if I see benefit to adding a few more forms of recognition. I'm not necessarily stuck on the idea of more belts, but more of something might be helpful, based on what I'm currently seeing from bigger schools who are producing quality black belts. In my main system, currently we have only five belt tests before black. The only other achievements marked on the uniform are leadership team, assistant instructor or instructor - a single recognition based on where are in terms of leadership training. All in all, I realize this may be an old school method that isn't working as well as it could. So the question is, what do you do? What have you seen? What works for you? What can you suggest for reasonable reward and status without facilitating weakness and arrogance?

With all due respect I don't think the term "master", as in blackbelt master, means that that person is in control or is dominating with the master-slave relationship. Its a homonym so often the two meanings get confused but I think in this case we're more along the lines of master craftsman or master tradesman. As in you have a high proficiency in your craft and are very knowledgeable about it. Same idea as master's degrees, its not that you are controlling or dominating anyone but that you have knowledge above and beyond what its normal in a particular field. If we use this English meaning of master, I have no problem using it for someone I consider to be an expert in a style. Yes, you have a good point... I shouldn't have said it never stood for anything good. My point was that the history of the term in this country has a huge negative shadow over it due to slavery. Even in a racial sense it could make some people extremely uncomfortable, and I would not blame them. I didn't make my point clear, but it was that the term is troubled from the start due to historical connotations. I'm not suggesting that no one can use the title. Obviously, my instructor does and I do call him "Master." It's simply something I don't prefer or find helpful. I've found that it tends to make Americans arrogant a great deal of the time. Thanks for the insight.

You are forcing your understanding and ranking on other styles. Some styles give a shodan after 1.5-2 years. In my school it takes 6-7 years. My sensei has been a black belt for 40 years and is only 4th dan. My sensei has been practicing karate for close to 50 years, he has a black belt in Goju and shotokan given to him by karate masters over 30 years ago. He can be called a master, yet he refuses to take the name. Humility is a part of the art; when one takes the name of "master" he better be able to prove it. Being darned good, is not a master. A master knows every aspect of every kata, including breathing, bunkai, every block and kick, and he has done it so many times, he can do it in his sleep without hesitation or reservation. I know people who call themselves "4th dan" after 10 years. My instructor has been at 4th dan for twice that long, and is not yet a 5th dan. This is because of the assosiation. SKI very rarely gives out anything over a 5th dan. Good points, but you accuse the poster of forcing his or her understanding, and then you appear to turn around and recite rather specific qualifications for what a Master must be, based on your own experience and style, which I can tell you is not applicable to all styles, based on what you've said. My experience of almost 30 years with approximately 3,000 students gives me a different perspective of Master and rank than you have, and that's fine. No one way has to be the only or the right way. We can only do what feels right to us, and teach our people the same. Your points hold reasonably true, but what a Master is or isn't will continue to be defined by each school or association, and will only translate into its full meaning within that organization. From one organization and style to the next, rank can only be an approximate concept, and will never be fully agreeable across the board. I know many who would not agree with 40 years at 4th dan, either. And if we suggest that someone else is forcing an understanding, we can hardly afford to force our own in such concrete terms, as if our understanding were a sweeping definition to which all styles must adhere. Good post.

After many years of teaching martial arts, how do you deal with periods of burnout? How do you keep things exciting?

Exactly. I used to stress out about this and resent them, and then a few thoughts crossed my mind and I haven't worried about them since. On the positive side, they are providing a service that gets people interested in martial arts who might otherwise not make it in a tougher class. For that, I'm thankful. I'd rather people do some martial arts than none. Some of those people will eventually seek out a deeper level of training. The other thought that crossed my mind is that it was mighty egotistical of me to be so high and mighty about my opinions of other schools. Anyone can look at anyone else and wag a finger, and no one is any better for it. I eventually learned that pointing to other people as McDojos was my way of self-validating and make myself feel more legit. I do that now through the way I train, teach, test and act, and that speaks volumes more about what I believe than pointing fingers. Having said that, I totally agree that some schools are really devaluing the black belt because of their practices, but the best way to fight it is to be so awesome at what you do that no one wants to go to a McDojo. There will be some people who will be lured in who might have joined a "better" school, sure, but you can't control that. To be fair, some will also take a deeper interest and leave. All in all, I'm not convinced that its as big of a problem as we make it out to be. Its challenging to stay in business with people giving out quick black belts, but insulting them won't help, increasing your own quality will.