Black Belt and Ages

[frightmaster]

With my daughter being 9 years old and just obtaining her Red belt in Tae Kwon Do, I feel she is about 1 to 1.5 years out for her Black Belt test. I was informed that she will not get it until she is 13 years old. At which point she will be granted the belt. Questions are as follows.....

1) Is this correcting regards to the age of 13?

2) Does she receive the acknowledgement of a Black Belt prior to her actually receiving the belt?

[Sam]

Depends on the association you are with for both those

(1) Generally under 16s may be given the grade of "junior black belt" they are blackbelts but are also still junior students, - automatic promotion to bb when tehy reach 16

(2) this very rarely happens, likely she will have to continue to train as a pre-black until she is old enough.

Just out of interest how logn has she been training?

[frightmaster]

She started about 1.25 years ago. A little after myself. She trains with me and we practice together. Her bing extremely active in sprotsm ballet and TKD has truely helped her so much. We both are WTF associated.

[Sam]

so ti will have taken her 2 to 2.5 years for a bbelt if they let her garde... i wouldnt worry about them if they dont lether garde.... 2.5 years is very quick, she can afford to wait ti out

do you knwo what wtf association it is?

[tkdBill]

I have several young Black Belts in my school, one as young as 9. He's been training since age 5, and he is every bit as talented and proficient as any adult 1st degree I have seen.

In our association, if someone can pass the test, we do not hold them back because of age. They also get no consideration for their age when testing. The standards are EXACTLY the same whether the candidate is 9 or 29.

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[frightmaster]

I understand her becoming a junior black belt and all that. I was questioning if when she receives her BB at the age of 13 does she remain a senor to new BB's after her? example

Jan 06 she passes her BB test and is now a junior black belt at the age of 10. in Jan 07 a person passes the BB test at the age of 30 and receives thier BB. in 09 when daughter is 13 she will automatically receive her BB becasue she is of age. Is the person who got thier BB in 07 her senior or is my daughter that person's senior?

Hope this is clear.

[frightmaster]

do you knwo what wtf association it is?

We are World Tae Kwon Do Federation certified. Not sure what else you mean? Unless you are asking style to which it is Ji Do Kwon. I was thinking of changing to Moo Do Kwon.

[Sam]

i imagine she'll be senior..... not really any documentation i can find anywhere on this sort of thing as its rare to hold the belt back, rather than hold teh test back.

[younwhagrl]

tkdBill..it is the same way in our organization..if ur 6 or 66..black belt is black belt! The BB kids I've seen are just as good, respectful, and can do whatever the adults can do...it's amazing! Age isn't a factor in our organization!

[EternalRage]

I know this isn't exactly a thread about "appropriate age for Black Belt" and I'm sure there have been plenty of threads on this in the past, so I just will make a passing statement on this issue.

Depending on your school/style/association, children with black belts may or may not be acceptable. At least in the more traditional arts, I feel that children (definitely under the ages of 10) shouldn't be allowed to have a black belt. The belt signifies not only physical conditioning, but maturity and mental understanding of an art as well - unless they're child prodigies, they most likely will not understand. A martial artist must be more than just an athlete - it is a journey of development that coincides with everyday life.

Frightmaster, as Sam pointed out, 2.5 years is pretty quick to black belt. You expressed interest in switching to a Moo Duk Kwan affiliated art - just for comparison, most Tang Soo Do/Soo Bahk Do Moo Duk Kwan associations/schools do not allow black belt certification below ages of 13 and under 3-4 years of practice.

The more time you give your child to develop her skills, the better black belt she will be in the future, and the more it will mean to her. You will also be helping raise the standards of your TKD system/association.

Jan 06 she passes her BB test and is now a junior black belt at the age of 10. in Jan 07 a person passes the BB test at the age of 30 and receives thier BB. in 09 when daughter is 13 she will automatically receive her BB becasue she is of age. Is the person who got thier BB in 07 her senior or is my daughter that person's senior?

Situations like these may be detrimental to a child. Whereas the respect given to her as a black belt by a 30 year old junior ranked student will help build the 30 year old's humility and patience, it can be strange for a child to receive "yessirs" and "yes maams" and other forms of respect from adults. Most kids that I have seen cannot handle it and end up developing an ego instead of good Moo Do. Not to say your child would, but you probably wouldn't want to set them on that road in the first place.

Rather than concerning yourself over your child's placement in ranking hierarchies of your class, perhaps it would be more pertinent to devote your concerns to whether your child is truly ready to receive the black belt, whether she is capable of understanding - physically, mentally, spiritually - your system as a martial artist as well as athlete.