Belts

[Darkangel]

Please forgive me for asking. I am 35 yrs old and new to Martial Arts. However when I was 15 I took a free course for a week so I feel that I somewhat know what I am about to ask. In my school there are many school age kids. Around 6-10 yrs old. (I myself have my 2 kids enrolled) But these kids are running around with red belts and black belts you name it. For someone like me, having them belts are significant yet these kids have no discipline. They can barely lift their legs to perform a side kick and have no balance. How can these kids even get promoted to these ranks if they have no clue? Maybe it is just me who knows.

[jh5638]

Well without saying more this seems to be the fault of the instructor. Now either he has justified the kids grades as them being "kids grades" i.e not comparable to adult grades. Or you have found yourself a boneified McDojo, i.e belts for money (from the sounds of the kids technique). Either way i would say this doesn't seem right. Shop around, do you want to be in a class full of kids anyway (this is my belief) hope this helps.

[Sohan]

I've always believed that you can gauge the quality of an instructor by his/her students. Even though we should judge children less strictly than adults, let that tell you what you need to know.

Respectfully,

Sohan

[lordtariel]

Better check an adult advance class. If the adults look as bad, it'd probably be best to find another school. All staying in a bad school will do is build bad habits. That being said, sometimes a school will have two tiers of belts, a child level and an adult level.

[jaymac]

Already some good advice. Definitely check out the adult class and form an opinion from there. The belts topic comes up in the forum all the time. Kids get advanced by spending the time in the dojos. That is what I am learning. If they are there for years and do not advance, more than likely it seems, parents tend to pull the child. If you attend an adult class and you enjoy it, you learn from your instructor and others, stick with it. If he does not have an adult class and you are constantly going to train with children -------------> run to another dojo.

[Holland]

Definately the fault of the instructor. Sadly too many dojos get into the trap of feeling they have to promote their students in order to keep them around. That is how you often end up with students like you have mentioned.

[powerof0ne]

Young children with black belts always raises a warning flag with me, even though I have seen a few that I felt did deserve it(not many). If they're running around with no discipline like you're saying I have something to say: Can I get a McDojo with cheese?

[Killer Miller]

Cumon guys! Be Nice!!!

Oh, can I have one McDojo with everything on it and hold the pickles???

:0)

- Killer -

[Sohan]

Already some good advice. Definitely check out the adult class and form an opinion from there. The belts topic comes up in the forum all the time. Kids get advanced by spending the time in the dojos. That is what I am learning. If they are there for years and do not advance, more than likely it seems, parents tend to pull the child. If you attend an adult class and you enjoy it, you learn from your instructor and others, stick with it. If he does not have an adult class and you are constantly going to train with children -------------> run to another dojo.

Funny you say that, jaymac. My first Tang Soo Do dojo had us training alongside kids 7, 8 years old. I was 220 and 6 feet tall. Not a realistic environment for training, plus the difference in maturity level was staggering. Perhaps not so much for me, but for the other adults...

Respectfully,

Sohan

[ramymensa]

This is indeed frustraiting sometimes. Not matter how much we keep telling ourselves that rank doesn't matter, it still matters. When we have gone through fire and water for a rank (at least my instructor is very demanding) we start valuing that rank because we know how much effort we have put into that. Seeing people who are sub-rank as skill but over-rank as the actual belt really gives one a bad taste in the mouth ...

Just see the adults classes (kids classes are most of the time not good for adults since we get the feeling we;re in kindergarten). If the adults are not skilled either, as others have already said, time to shop for another dojo ...