no belt start

[benkendrick]

Take away the belts and dobaks! Practice Naked!

 

tried that once... the wife wasn't very happy with me though (not to mention the neighbors...)

[Scand]

I'm sorry if picking up old threads isn't a common tradition here.

 

When I trained hoijeonmoosool, we had 11 belts (including 3 brown belts) and we started with the white belt. We paid for each test but I loved the club/school, so I didn't whine about it. We learnt things and actually did stuff which seemed to be hoijeonmoosool, not aerobics (although we did that too). The tests (up to the 6th gup or purple belt) weren't that challenging for most people, and I don't recall anyone failing their test. But again, I loved the club and I loved the art. Plus it was the only school in my area/city.

 

These days I practise shaolin kung-fu, and so far I've enjoyed it very much. We have no white belts at the start and we have like 6-8 belts in overall. I was told that the tests are pretty challenging, so they keep those on the one-per-year basis, or at least not so often as we kept in hoijeonmoosool, being about 4 times a year.

 

I like the idea of earning the white belt/sash, so I'm not complaining. Some perhaps would, but I've always kind of thought that the white belt shouldn't be handed over at the start. I've never exactly studied what the belt colours symbolise, so this just might be a major reason which has led me into my way of thinking.

 

[PrideampPoise]

Charging for stripes doesn't bother me in and of itself. We test every three months, and each colored belt has one stripe. So you get a white belt in the door, test for yellow stripe at your first test, then yellow belt at the next, etc.

 

But there's only 5 colored belts below black. White, yellow, blue, red and brown. (Once you reach brown, you continue earning black stripes until you are promoted to black belt, which can be quite some time)

 

I've been in a few schools lately that didn't look like they had stripes, but had so many different colored belts that they were using colors I couldn't identify! ("I'm a fuscia belt. Are you a muave belt?") I don't see how that can be assumed to be any better than a system with fewer belts but that uses stripes.

 

I actually don't think you can really tell much just by looking at the number of belts/stripes the school uses, or what they charge for what.

 

Yes, some things bring up red flags, but even that's not the end of the story.

 

In the end, anybody who is sticking with it solely because they are motivated by a different colored belt or stripe is going to quit. On the other hand, being able to guage one's progress visually is important to some, particularly those who are starting out in the arts, and don't yet grasp what they are all about.

 

Its one thing for an experienced Martial Artist to understand that your growth isn't truly measured by the color of your belt, but its quite another to expect a beginner to get that.