Aodhan

Yeah, well, it has been close to 20 years, I'm surprised they were still in business. But, he's got a younger partner that is also teaching. John

Aodan, in my 30+ years in Taekwondo I have to agree with DWx here. Retesting at a new dojang is the simplest way to get that certificate. I'm sorry that this happened to you, but you are not alone. Perhaps a new dojang under a master whom you trust might rekindle your love of Taekwondo. You might find it to be a wonderful experience. All my best to you in your journey. I have not lost my love for Taekwondo. I am currently a 4th degree certified instructor with the ATA. I would have liked to have had the certificate for historical purposes, as it was something that I earned. Retesting, while an option, would be a large pain at this point as it has been many many years since I was in a WTF school and I don't remember the forms. I did manage to get in touch with the former dojang (I found the name on one of the couple of certificates that I did find), and they have no records that far back. So, I guess it's one of those things that shall remain lost. John

I have a bit of a dilemma. I achieved black belt rank in WTF in the mid 90's in Nevada, while I was in the Air Force. When I was discharged, the AF lost some items shipping them to my home, chiefly among them my black belt certificate. Now, come to find out that Kukkiwon has no record of me. (I finally went to get it re-issued, as I'm starting to do some clinics and it would be nice to list it on the resume.) All that I currently have is my green belt certificates and a couple medals from the state championship event that year. Is there a way to appeal this to the Kukkiwon that my instructor (Who I cannot track down) never registered me? Or am I just out of luck as far as the official recognition of rank goes? John

In the past, I've seen some rewards from the "bring a friend" idea, that if the friend signs up, then you reduce the montly fee of the one who brought him in by maybe 5% or something.Yes, we do that as well. Usually if the friend signs up, they get $10 for each friend off of their next testing or gear order. Ninja nights and other "bring a friend" parties like this are awesome. We are lucky enough to have Ernie Reyes Jr. working for our schools now, gets a lot of interest in the demos and he's a really cool dude to talk to. John

Our white belt form has: Front stance Middle Stance Reverse punch High block Low block Inner forearm block Knifehand strike. Yellow belt form adds: Double knife hand block Spearhand Jump Front kick Backfist So, there isn't really a lot of difference. And, there are ways to teach it that they "get it" during the curriculum block. I wouldn't block more than that, and if/when I have my own school, I would seriously consider white as it's own block, then block by two's the rest of the way. John

This is not the fault of the style, but rather the application of the training within the style. An elbow to the side of the head is the same, whether you call it Isshinryu, TKD, Shotokan, WingDings Finger food or reality training. You are probably learning bone breaks, elbows, in close fighting, groundfighting, etc. These are all things that can be gleaned in just about every art out there. It's how you apply the training in various situations that differs from style to style (and school to school). Rather than say "Well, that was 12 years wasted", see what you know that can be applied in your current training regimen. If there is absolutely nothing that can be applied, then you either really did waste 12 years or your new training isn't as reality as you think it might be. John

Quite a few ATA schools do what they call "blocking" of forms. We have 9 colored belt forms, and the most popular is to block by threes. So, if you happen to start with the Yellow belt form, then your next form would be white belt, and the next would be orange. There are some disadvantages to this, in that there are some slightly advanced techniques in the yellow belt form (In ATA, the yellow form has a jump front kick.) If you come in during the most advanced form portion of the block, then you'd be learning the blue belt form (6th colored belt) as your 4th form instead of 6th. I was against this at the beginning, but I believe that if you pay attention to the basics, it works. It certainly does make it easier to teach slightly larger classes, as if you have a class of 20, you're not teaching 7 different forms. Black belt forms are not blocked. I also don't agree with the concept of blocking the entire curriculum, I think it's inviting too much in the way of injury to have a brand new student doing a brown or red belt form. John

I've tried that, with limited success on lesser weight doboks (gi's). For the OP, if you really feel the need for an ironed one for demos/testing/tournaments, I would suggest dry cleaning and pressing, and then use other doboks for general class. John

Well, even if it's a large community, you will never really get it going because it's a closed group. If you can't teach anyone but community members where you are, then to grow at all you will need to find a different place to teach. As far as ideas about attracting students: - Demonstrations at grade schools - Home depot has events geared towards kids every couple months where other groups can show up and demonstrate/have an interest table - Boy/Girl scout groups, self defense seminars - Kiosk at a mall - Demonstrations at movie theaters when a MA themed movie comes out Always have a schedule or card with contact information readily available as well. Welcome to the forums! John

Welcome! MMA is to martial arts as Riverdance was to Irish Dance (My wife was a competitive Irish dancer and is now a teacher), or Bobby Fischer to chess in the 70's. You see an initial explosion of interest, mass registrations, and then it dies back again, to a slightly higher level than before. Everyone that says "Oh, MMA is REAL fighting", no. It's another contest according to certain rules. No downward elbows, no groin shots, no biting, no eye gouging, etc. Yes, it's a harder contact and punishing sport, but it's still not a street fight. I was at a weekend regional camp this weekend, and one of our senior masters made an excellent point, in that many many techniques across all martial arts are the same. So, if you have a cup of coffee in a cup labeled "ATA TKD", and you pour it into a cup of coffee labeled "Krav Maga", does the coffee change? Or just the container that it's in? Now, yes, there are some distinctions and variations between martial arts, and that is where your cream and sugar come in. Some people like a little cinnamon, honey, etc. What's going to happen is that you will see tons of people rushing to sign up at MA and MMA schools, discover that it's actually hard work and often painful, and drop out. But, you'll get some that will love it, and will stay. John

Looking for some new exercises and drills to work on agility, movement and/or balance to shake up my classes a bit. What do you all have/do for each of those segments? John

For the ATA, they have implemented Fitness testing before you can test at a National or World event (Which is mandatory for anyone testing past 3rd degree, must be done at a Nat/World event. 4th to 5th and higher must be done at Worlds). 1 min round, 1 min rest. You have to do pushups and situps, then on the bag punches, kicks, and punch/kick combo. (Must have at least 1 kick per 2 punches). The bags have impact meters, so weaker techniques won't count. Minimum standards apply. For example, in my 40-49 male age group, it is 40 pushups and 47 situps. I can't remember the standards for the kick/punch items. However, if you are deficient in some areas, you can make it up in others. For example, if you do 30 pushups, then you need to score 10 extra among the other standards. Our schools also implement a 1 mile run and a few other items above and beyond these when testing for any black belt rank. John

Here in Phoenix, ATA regional tournament this last weekend. John Very cool. My former instructor is Tony Collett, and he is out of Colorado. Are you familiar with him?Not directly, I believe he recently achieved 5th degree. Paragon martial arts, yes? With Stan Shields? I've taken "drop in" lessons there when I've been back to Co visiting my parents, but I don't recall Mr. Collett specifically. John

Same here. I've been in martial for 28 years and never been hit/kicked/physically abused as a punishment. Now, I will admit to "tuning up" an attitude in sparring class on occasion, but never in a malicious manner, and certainly never done to humiliate/demean anyone. John

Amen, brother. I hear ya. Although I like to imagine that I'm a super athlete in my head as I'm falling asleep. I wonder what it might look like if martial arts studios had a special achievement rank parallel to but not exactly a black belt. I think this whole argument centers around our society's rejection of the idea that there might be things that some people can't have - we're a very "anybody can do anything!" kind of society (which I mostly admire). But not everybody can get a PhD. Some people just flunk out. And not everyone can be a doctor or a policeman, or an NFL player. And despite what we tell our children, not everyone can really be president of the United States (probably). So how come we all accept that, but we don't accept that not everyone can be a black belt? I guess because it's a leisure activity, not a necessity/public service? Or because there's no direct and tangible negative consequence for giving out black belts (as opposed to having your roofer decide he's your surgeon!)? All I have are more questions, no answers. And they are good questions. Why isn't there a parallel ranking system? The local ice rink runs adult hockey leagues, and they are rated from D (Can stand on their skates without hurting themselves or anyone else) up through AA (Has some former pros), everyone has fun and as their skills improve they get to move up. I guess it's all in the standards that you set. If you say X number of classes, being able to do all your forms, break boards in a certain manner, weapons and sparring are the standards for a certain rank, and someone meets those standards, should they not be promoted? I can see both sides of the argument, and both sides have very valid points. One last consideration, is that we often tell our students that black belt is the first step on truly starting to learn. If they don't get to that rank, then they stagnate and quit. It's superhuman people that can consistently do something with no hope of reward/advancement. If they stagnate and quit, does that protect or diminish the art? John