Black Belt in 2-3 yrs?

[orion82698]

2 years?!?!?!?! RUN!!!! Far, far away.

I seen it happen at my dojang in 2 and a 1/2 years (long story), but my wimpy 2nd gup/kyu butt is better than them (I have been in TKD for 4 years with previous experience).

My school doesn't "promise" black belts unless you get on this "leadership instructor exelerated" thingy. It never works. Both my boyfriend and I turned it down when asked to do it. He got his BB in 3 and a 1/2 years (also training 4 years) and I'm just a 2nd gup (my choice ... I don't want no stinkin' gift LOL).

Sorry. I'm also kind of venting LOL

You, Vent.....Nahhhh!!!!!

I am starting to see the same thing. I understand people have got to make a living......

It seems like all of the recent BB can't fight their way out of a wet paper bag!!!

I don't know whats going on they are all excellent point fighters but they just can't free fight or do anything I would consider scary. I thought it was supposed to be a "Martial" art?

Too many kids, too few adults. Maybe I'm just getting old and bored and need a change.

-Marc

Nope, I agree with what you say. There are too many kids (under 13) with black belts, walking around teaching adults. Not that there is anything wrong with that, but some of these black belts don't even have proper balance, form, and they're just kids. I hate to say it, but why does a 7-10 year old need to be a black belt? Do you honestly think they know what it means to be a black belt? Some of them don't even listen.

[lgm]

Nope, I agree with what you say. There are too many kids (under 13) with black belts, walking around teaching adults. Not that there is anything wrong with that, but some of these black belts don't even have proper balance, form, and they're just kids. I hate to say it, but why does a 7-10 year old need to be a black belt? Do you honestly think they know what it means to be a black belt? Some of them don't even listen.

While it is common to have kids below 13 years who are given a rank of blackbelt by some karate schools, they should be classified and ranked as "jr. blackbelts" and are not of the same status rank as full-fledged adult blackbelts. Though both of them are blackbelts, the jr. blackbelts may have mastered the forms of the art like the adult blackbelts, but they still lack the maturity or full development of their physical powers comparable to the power, speed and strength of the latter. Also, they have not reached the same emotional/social maturity as the adult blackbelts for the stable, reliable and wise use of their potentially dangerous martial art.

To sum up, while the two groups are often lumped into the same category as "blackbelts", the jr. blackbelts don't share the same status rank as adult blackbelts in a karate organization. When they are referred to as "blackbelts", the qualifier "jr." should always be attached to their title to distinguish them from adult blackbelts.

Just my 2 cents.

[AndrewGreen]

If you train for 2-3 years, what matters more, the color of your belt or how much you've learnt?

Belts mean absolutely nothing to anyone outside of your school, no one else cares. They are a internal motivation and retention tool, nothing more.

If the school owner has found that by following a promotion schedule that gets people to black in 2-3 years keeps more people there longer, then that is the schedule he should use.

If he adheres to some misguided belief that black belt has some high meaning and should take many years while all his students get bored, fed up and leave, he's missed the point.

As for me, I only give belts to kids, the adults shouldn't need them. So all black belts I award are going to be to kids

[lgm]

If you train for 2-3 years, what matters more, the color of your belt or how much you've learnt?

Belts mean absolutely nothing to anyone outside of your school, no one else cares. They are a internal motivation and retention tool, nothing more.

That's one way of looking at it. Master Miyagi (not the karate master in the "Karate Kid" movie) also did not believe in belt ranks and belts in karate.

But, the use of belts in karate is almost universal or practiced in almost all karate schools. It should mean something therefore and in my readings, it symbolizes, certifies and serves as sort of benchmark of the level of achievement a student or practitioner has accomplished in the technical skills and related standards of his karate ryu.

On the other hand, what is true is that karate belts are not and cannot be compared between one karate school and another, one karate ryu or organization and another because they have varying standards and means of measuring such standards.

[orion82698]

I think there should be only 3 belts. White, Red, Black.

White belt for a while, atleast for 3 years, until the student has proven themselves.

Red for another year after that, until they prove they're ready for black.

I don't understand this whole color belt thing either. I'm going to where a blackbelt to my next class and see what they say!

[AndrewGreen]

In "Traditional" systems, Red belt is 9th / 10th dan

I still vote for none

Instructor / coach certification yes, belt ranks, not needed.

[trillium]

closed door (no public allowed as well as other karate students except the brownbelts taking the exam and the BB examiners) "gauntlet kumite" (I coined this for identification purposes only as we don't have an official name for it, except "kumite").

maybe this should be a new topic, but how common (or uncommon) is the gauntlet kumite- type of shodan grading.

No, it isn't news to me that this is done, I'm just wondering if it is the norm, the majority or the exception for a shodan grading...

K.Lahtinen

[Dixon]

I have an interesting question. How would you guys feel if.....there was a new student at your dojo, he had never trained before, but he trained 8 hours a day everyday(at the dojo or at home). He had the skill, dicipline, mentality, and maturity that a BB should have and got a black belt in only 1 year.

How would you feel? What would you think?

[White Warlock]

I have an interesting question. How would you guys feel if.....there was a new student at your dojo, he had never trained before, but he trained 8 hours a day everyday(at the dojo or at home). He had the skill, dicipline, mentality, and maturity that a BB should have and got a black belt in only 1 year.

How would you feel? What would you think?

It is true that time measured in years has been the fallacy of these arguments.

[lgm]

I have an interesting question. How would you guys feel if.....there was a new student at your dojo, he had never trained before, but he trained 8 hours a day everyday(at the dojo or at home). He had the skill, dicipline, mentality, and maturity that a BB should have and got a black belt in only 1 year.

How would you feel? What would you think?

If this new student has 8 hours of formal training under a qualified and certified karate instructor daily (not self-training at home) for 1 year which totals 2,920 formal training hours, and through sequentially progressive kyu grading tests (from white to brown belt rank) ending with the shodan (BB) test, he was observed to possess the skill, discipline, mentality and maturity that a candidate should have at each belt ladder level, why question his qualifications as a competent blackbelt? He deserves to be one, given those aforementioned conditions having been met. I would salute him and welcome him to our blackbelt ranks.

Training in karate are best measured in actual formal training hours under a competent and certified karate instructor and not how many years he has been training, if in those many years he trained for less total number of hours than he trained in just one year.

Realistically, however, it is extremely rare if not impossible to encounter one karate student on earth with such fantastic physical stamina to train straight for 8 hours everyday for a whole year with non-retrogressive but rather progressive and sustained learning efficiency/improvement curve. It is truly incredible or should I say, unbelievably incredible (for emphasis)