black belt attrition?

[niel0092]

I also see some leave due to curiousity about other arts. I think that's kind of common really. Some come back, some don't.

[shinnekodo]

This tendency of folks to leave @ BB rank has gone on in our school as well. When I achieved my 1st kyu rank, there were several BBs who had just been promoted ahead of me, within the space of a yr or less, they were all gone. Now, several yrs later, I and one other (who came along about 2-3 yrs later) are the only BBs that have remained with our head instructor.

As to why the several BBs left, most did not say, but the ones that did cite life circumstances mainly related to jobs and such. Only one of these BBs still trains in any MA.

Reflecting on this tendency is kind of sad, but it seems to happen.

[karatekid1975]

We had a few leave to train in other arts. Myself included (I'm not a BB yet), but I came back. I still cross-train though.

Our high drop out rate right now is green belt. Well not that high, but there's a couple that I haven't seen in a while.

We also had a couple BB's leave for some odd reason, then return. Their reason for leaving? That, I don't know. But then again, I don't poke my nose in their business. I just train.

[powerof0ne]

Where I train we have 4 blackbelts(I'm one of them) and two brown belts. We're also connected to a sister school about 20 minutes away with 2 black belts and one brown belt getting ready for his shodan test(He's 2 months away from the test).

In my old Shito Ryu dojo I remember one individual quitting within a month or two after he got his probationary black belt/shodan-ho. My sensei at the time gave it to him because he wasn't going to class that much and didn't even test him..just gave him the belt thinking he'd start coming more(I have no idea why). Well, it backfired on him and yeah...this individual went around telling everyone I was in HS at the time that he was a black belt, I gladly told everyone he wasn't.

My Shito Ryu dojo was really weird, the people that didn't compete went up the rank ladder quicker then the people that competed at the national & international level...the logic behind the sensei was so we would be good for our belt rank..I feel that he should have had the same standards for everyone.

I never felt comfortable in my early teens when I was a Kyu rank besting individuals testing for shodan-nidan in jiyu kumite.

[ocdavis]

When I earned my 1st dan I had a big let down. Everyone told me that this was only the beginning. I went to class for 3 months before I stared asking myself, "The beginning of what?" In my school, black belts do the same workout as white belts, plus the extra patterns.

I wasn't sure what I was supposed to be focusing on, or how to improve. So I asked one of the older black belts for advice and he took me under his wing. I got the impression that part of being in the black belt club is adopting a mentor. He gave me detailed and personalized tips on my technique, and made sure I had all the instructional materials he could find.

Also, I asked another bb to teach me weapons and a little tang soo do. And another helped me improve my sparring. Suddenly, I had too much to study!

I finally figured out that passing my bb test was like graduating from high school. Suddenly, it was my responsibility to find whatever I wanted to learn.

Most of my training was outside of class time. But I had more to think about during my workout. It was fresh again.

I really wish someone had explained this to me. Maybe my experience was unique. Now I share my wisdom with other students and try to help them find what they're looking for in their martial arts training. Hopefully, this will keep more of my friends coming to class longer.

ocdavis

[Ottman]

ocdavis, I went through a very similar experience. I got my 1st dan when I was 15, (sophomore in HS at the time.) I continued to train at my dojang for about a year, and then kinda just stopped. When I went to college I started getting into other martial arts on my own, and realized how great of a foundation I built with my TKD training. Like you said, everything was fresh again. Eventually, however, I began to miss the formalized training and routine of belonging to one dojang (a home dojang if you will), where I had access to a great instructor very supportive of my cross training, and a lot of dedicated students I could train with. I went back to TKD training with a whole new outlook on developing not just TKD as my instructor teaches it, but my own martial arts as I express them. This is something that my instructor is very supportive of, but we both know that it is nothing she can teach me. Now that I'm a black belt, as you've said, I need to find my own direction in martial arts, and I think that, as others have alluded to, a lot of people get so fixated with getting a black belt, that they don't know what direction to take afterwards, because they've never had to think about what lies beyond. They are used to having an instructor direct their training, and never had a vision of where they wanted their training to take them. Now that the director has nothing left to direct, it's up to the student to take the reigns and start dictating their own development as a martial artist. I don't think that the majority of martial arts students out there have this vision. This level of training is not for everyone, and let's not knock down the acheivement of getting a black belt. A lot of people don't even make it that far. It really takes a special, dedicated, driven person, who absolutely loves MA's, and can't get through a day without thinking about them to step up their training to the post black belt level. Again, it's all up to the individual, especially at this point in their training, and not everybody has the desire, drive, dedication, discipline, and determination to continue on the much different path of training after getting a black belt.

[Kill Jill]

After practicing poomsae for every single day in the three month run up to my black belt, I was quite happy to abandon taekwondo for the next couple of months following it.

However, I gradually felt the urge to join it again, and have been training in it on and off for the past year. It's difficult to feel quite so motivated to improve, especially if you don't have that valuable 'mentor' as was referred to, and if you are doing exactly the same routine as the white belts. Also, getting a black belt made me realize that taekwondo is not the be all and end all of martial arts. It's a gradual process that will take me more than a lifetime to master, but along the way, I'm also happy to try out other MAs to broaden my techniques.

In Korea, everyone quits TKD by the age of 20 - unless they are going to be an instructor. Even if they are very good at TKD, as soon as they get to university, academic pressure forces them to put TKD aside forever.

Perhaps your black belts broke some gym rules - some have very archane rules which encompass black belt conduct outside the gym - and had a disagreement with your master. Most important is that if you are still happy in the class, just get on with things and don't worry about the external politics.

[SBN Doug]

We do loose the occational BB right after promotion. These are typically the teens that were just looking to get to that title, and now they can boast while they go visit the mall with their fiends every day.

Most of our adults, and many teens, stick with it because in our system there is a defined set of criteria for you to learn at each level. You know that at 1st degree you have almost the same amount of techniques to learn for 2nd as there was for 1st. You also know that you start learning staff sparring, sword form, etc. Everyone can see that there is a lot more defined material awaiting them, if they decide to stick with it.

With the question of "what else is there" already answered, most don't give quitting a second thought and stick with it.

[frightmaster]

We do loose the occational BB right after promotion. These are typically the teens that were just looking to get to that title, and now they can boast while they go visit the mall with their fiends every day.

Funny thing is that when you get a BB it signifies that you learned and understand the basics of the art. At the BB level you are now ready to learn the advance forms of the art.

[marie curie]

A lot of times people get older and want to concentrate on other aspects of their art. Also, one generally only gets as good as the best person they usually fight, and maybe he wanted some more upper-levels or new people to fight because he's used to the old ones.