All-belts classes, anyone?

[taekwondomom]

Hey, our discussion about the right age for starting TKD made me wonder about how everyone's schools do classes.

At our school, there are "Little Ninja" classes, for age 4-6, "Ninja Kids" classes for ages 6-12, and then there are "All-Belts" classes for all ages, all belts.

Now that you guys have me thinking about the right age to learn, I've been realizing how much I like the "All belts" classes. When I attend, I'm taking class with children through adults, beginners thru BBs. We all do the same activities, though the instructor sometimes specifies different (more difficult) moves for the higher belts.

It is so cool to be in those classes of 30-40 people of all ages, all doing the same moves together! (Our dojang is about the size of a school gym, with hardwood floors and high ceilings--there's a description on my blog http://taekwondomom.blogspot.com on March 30, "Back to the dojang")

I like being with people of all ages/levels, too. It allows you to help and be helped by each other. I think it also gets us thinking about what makes us equal as well as what makes some higher-ranked. There's something about the philosophy behind it that I really like.

(Of course, there sometimes are problems--you can see my blog's description of a difficult junior blackbelt, also March 30, "First day back")

Do any of you have all-belts classes? Is that a common way for classes to be run?

[karatekid1975]

Yep, we do. We have what we call "open" class on saturdays. Anyone (except the "Tigers" which is 4-6 years olds) can show up. We do a warm-up all together, then we break off and work on what we need to work on. Then the higher grades will scout around the room to see if anyone needs help.

Tuesdays, there's also a mixed rank adult class. That class is cool, too.

Other than that, our classes are set up by rank. Beginners white, orange, yellow. Inter. green, purple, blue, brown. Advanced is red belts and above. That's for the adults. I don't really know how the kids classes are set up.

Edited April 10, 2005 by karatekid1975

[Shorin Ryuu]

We have all belts classes in my dojo. We may work together during drills and lower level kata, but a lot of the class involves splitting up into groups and working on things in that manner, with the instructor taking an individual or group through something specific and checking up on each group. Having 2 1/2 hour long classes helps facilitate this somewhat.

My instructor also has the rule that you have to be 15 or older to join, so there is less of a "maturity" problem or need to cater to short attention spans.

Then again, there is only white belt, brown belt, and then the dan ranks.

[Spookey]

Dear All,

I oversee a small private club with only 10 members maximum. THerefore it is necessary to combine all ranks.

During line drills different ranks will preform different exercises, during patterns we do pyramids. Everyone does all the patterns they know and then they drop out as the patterns progress.

Sparring is conducted on one side while I assist the younger kups with step sparring.

Also, once a week we will have a class designated to beginner students in which the senior Kup ranks help me in instructng the very basics to the beginners!

TAEKWON!

SpooKey

[JaseP]

Do any of you have all-belts classes? Is that a common way for classes to be run?

Yes.

Some schools will have classes broken up by rank ranges, but by far the most common way to break up classes is to have youth classes and adult classes. My instructor runs Black Belt classes about once per month.

Occasionally, you'll get beginner classes that are geared towards newbies, and then general classes for everyone else.

[Myst]

All of our classes are open to all belts, all ages. I like it just because of the variety you get. And it helps my teaching skills because my instructor usually has me help the new students.

[ninjanurse]

I train at a small school that only divides classes by age not belt level. I have been campaigning for a change but no luck so far. Teaching a multilevel class has it's challenges-especially when they are kids but it is not impossible. It is a good opportunity to start giving responsibility to higher belts and build confidence, as well as identify students who may need some one-on-one. Either way is do-able but for larger schools I think you need to divide by age and belt level in order to maintain quality.

[hammer]

Most of our classes are two hours long are all ages and all belt levels. We do have advanced workouts for red and black belts a few times a month, and there are a few classes for the younger kids (7 YO and younger) that only go for one hour.

The classes are, for the most part, oriented towards the students, so I think the main challenge is for the Black Belts to get exposure to the more advanced "stuff".

I do wish that there were more shorter classes available (my son dropped out after a few years in part because of the class length), but with all that we cover in a class I'm not sure how we could do it in less than 2 hours.

[Slydermv]

We have 6 PM family classes which are mixed, and 7 pm adult classes which are mixed. I do enjoy classes with kids on ocassion cause they are fun, but I prefer sticking to the adult classes... a much better workout... and much more challenging

Classes aren't really split up by belt level, but for the most part... the more serious adults come to 7 PM while the "family" adults go to 6.

Even though we have white to black in our classes, people are really encourganing and for the most part, we try to reassure people that they don't suck if they are falling behind... they haven't had as much training as these other guys.

[aefibird]

We have some mixed (all grades together) classes and some that are divided up according to grade.

As we are only a small club we wouldn't have enough students to warrant splitting higher grades classes into children and adults, so they work out together but we divide beginners/lower grades classes into ones for adults and children.