little black belts

[jaymac]

I do think that promoting kids to black belt is individualized. I am against 9 and 10 year old black belts. There can be some ways around it though, since I do believe that black belt is the beginning of learning. I saw in a century magazine, black belts with different colored stripes in the center (like yellow stripe, blue stripe etc...) I would once a young student earns a junior black belt, make them relearn each colored level and nearly perfect it. So say a 13 year old junior black belt wants to advance from Black belt with white stripe to black belt with yellow stripe, he would have to prove that he was fantastic at those basic techniques. I do have to say that we have a 16 year old shodan at our school who is amazing. He trains non stop and shows fantastic technique. He deserves the rank he has, more than some adult black belts at our school. He is mature, humble, and can teach effectively. That is why I am on the ledge here with my answer. Some kids are ready for shodan at earlier ages. If they are deserving, age should not matter.

[bushido_man96]

You make a very good point jaymac. That is well worth consideration.

A major problem that even adult students have is retaining their old material throughout the ranks. At our black belt testings, all of the previous forms and one steps must be demonstrated either in a pretest or at the testing itself.

[Brandon Fisher]

Here is the breakdown for promotion time for Seijitsu Shin Do.

white to yellow (shichi kyu - Rok-kyu)

3 months on average some make it faster)

yellow to orange (rok-kyu-go-kyu)

additional 3-4 months

orange-green (go-kyu to yon-kyu)

5-6 months

green - blue (yon-kyu- san-kyu)

7-8 months - most make it a little sooner

blue - purple (san-kyu - ni kyu)

9 months

purple - brown (ni-kyu - ik-kyu)

1 year

brown - shodan

10 months - 1 year

I know that I am going to confront the issue of a 12 year old brown belt and I am not sure yet what I am going to do about it.

[MartialArthur]

It is impossible to draw a line at a specific age and say "today you are mature enough to be a black belt"

If it were possible, it would certainly not be during the ages between 15 and 20.

The black belt should be earned. If a 12 year old who has been training for 5 years and can do everything that is required of an adult candidate, why hold him back? Is the Black Belt so sacred that we cannot give one to deserving 12 year olds? Or teenagers?

I wonder how many on this board write in other threads that "a black belt really doesn't mean anything" or "you shouldn't care about your rank" or "a black belt just holds up your pants" and then turn around and all of a sudden put such a value on that same belt that a 12 year old should never get one. That would be hypocrisy.

..

[ShoreiSmurf]

Wow, what a topic. This is how I see it. My school is part of the little dragons program for kids between 4-7 years old. Their promotion is strickly on a time basis only. When they turn eight, they can joing the karate class. No matter how long they been in, they still start at a white belt. It is normally the parents who freak out about this. So we tell them, "They are learning a far more superiror form of karate now. It is no longer tumbling and games mixed with basic karate. It is karate". In our school, you have to train for five years to become a bb, period! This would make an 8 year old 13 by the time they can test. However, our state athletic commision, Utah, does not reconize a black belt at tournments until they are 16. We still test the student, and promote to a Junior Black. If they have earned it, but anytime they go to a tournament they have to enter as a ikkyu, or 1st degree brown. (Sankyu = 3rd degree brown and Nikyu as a 2nd degree). Once they turn 16, we test them for their Shodan.

However, I think it is important as an instructor that we always make sure the youth are ready physically and mentally to hold such an honorble rank. It is our duty to teach them this from the start that it is truely an privleage to hold such a rank and not a right. just my thought

[Brandon Fisher]

Shoreismurf,

I agree totally about it being an honor and not a right. I am still not sold on the Jr. black belt idea though. This was an issue that ultimately caused the split between me and my instructor.

[granmasterchen]

MartialArthur you definitely have a point, i feel that the belt at the moment doesn't mean much due to today's society but i feel that it should mean something, i think that when we teach our students we should do everything we can as instructors to make the holder of a black belt someone that has great skill in the arts, not just a person that would be a holder of a yellow belt in a different style. I have seen many people that i feel aren't skilled enough to possess that rank, but in their own school they may be good, that just tells you about the skill of that particular school. I want the students in my school to be able to appreciate the rank of black belt and the time it took to get there, i want it to mean something, but the belt it self means nothing...it is just a belt, but symbolically it means the training that we put behind it. The training is different for each owner of the black belt and they each have different experiences so it means something different to each of them.....so i can easily see how it may appear that many of us that say one thing and say another seem to be hypocritical but we are not "really" saying different things...it's just our outlook of the thing i guess, hopefully that helped explain the situation a little...but it is a complex issue.

[patusai]

I wonder if little blackbelts are something that are only in America??

[ShoreiSmurf]

granmasterchen: AMEN

I wonder if little blackbelts are something that are only in America??

It is highly possible that it is, but I am not sure. We just had a guy join our dojo. His father was in the military and they spent most of his teen years in Korea. He holds a second dan in TKD, and I think he is only 22.

[granmasterchen]

many places over seas that are in direct relationship with military bases usually have instuctors from the states so you can have the same process continuing near or on military bases all over the world, at least US bases.