Yes, another 'Belt' thread...

[RJCKarate]

This is generally how we operate.

You must have been doing karate 3months prior to be able to go for a grading.

We hold two gradings a year usually around June/July and November/December sometimes there are exception gradings though.

But remember, belt does not mean everything.

For example; I am a shodan I wear a black belt, I would care none the less if I wore a white belt; does it effect my skill or my knowledge? Simply no.

Although SOME sensei's give out belts even though they probably don't "deserve" it, but it's given so they keep trying, bad I know but do you see my point?

[Ottman]

I definitely see your point sycron. In my previous post I said that belts were more for instructor's organization than for students, but after my instructor recieved a number of complaints about it taking too long to get through the middle belts (green and blue in my school) she added a bunch more belts because some students (who were otherwise good martial artists) were getting frustrated and quitting. Sounds crazy, but when a dojang is also someone's livlyhood, it really becomes the students who set most of the policies. No students = no income, so you have to adjust to what the students want as unfortunate as that may sound to those who are serious about martial arts for the training rather than the belts.

When I went through the colored belts there were 11 belt ranks before Bodan and we tested every 4 to six months or so. Now there are 20 ranks before bodan and we test every 8 weeks. This gives the students the feeling of progressing and keeps them motivated and coming back to train. I was a blue belt for instance for almost an entire year, and although I had no intentions of ever quitting, it did get a little frustrating to me (especially because I was only fourteen at the time.) It is obviously much easier to stay focused on a goal that only takes 8 weeks to complete rather than half a year to a year, so our retention rate of students has skyrocketed, even though we still teach the same cirriculum.

Strangley enough, the extra belts fit perfectly into our organizational structure for teaching, so it made not only the students more motivated, but the instructors more organized.

[gedanmawashigeriking]

I really dislike doubting my Sensei, but I just can't help feeling that I shouldn't be an orange-belt at this time; I feel that I should at least be a high yellow belt instead.

To explain the situation, I started Shorin Kempo Karate in January as a class in my freshmen year in highschool, my last class was on May 24th where I received my orange-belt. I feel that the transition between belts happened pretty fast, and I was wondering if four months is the normal amount of time to rank from a white-belt to an orange-belt.

Thanks for your responses.

-Protagonist

It's just a rank, who cares. Your sensei may also have higher standards for you then others, too. Train hard, dont' question your sensei, give it 110% and train some more.

If you stick to Karate or any other martial art, ten years or so from now you're going to be thinking how silly this was to even worry about.

Osu!

[bushido_man96]

My current dojang has a 10 belt system, white, low green, hi green, then lo and hi blue, then lo, middle, and hi brown. Then, we have black recommened, then black.

[RJCKarate]

To be honest, I hate pre-belts.

In my style we have the saying "Your belt is there to hold your pants up" another saying is "You're either it, or not it" You're either a black belt or not one.

We have no probationary or provisional belts in our style.

ALTHOUGH because you can't advance to Senior ranks (green, brown) until you're 14 some people are say 13 and on the highest junior belt (purple 3 stripes) So we give them I suppose a "provisional" belt of green, but when they turn to 14 they get the full one. But we only do this for that reason.

But remember, a belt is there to hold your pants up.

[kschilke]

We have a 12 Kyu system. I advanced through the lower belts fairly quickly, about 3-4 months between each, but have slowed as I have become more advanced. It's mainly a way for the instructors to gauge where a person is and what they know. I know that it has helped me as an instructor.

[Shinobu]

Imagin if we went back to the no belts, only the certificate way of marking our advance in karate. I've met many who say "rank doesn't matter" yet few who are actually willing to give up those coloured belts. Kudos for anyone who wears a belt to hold up their pants. Kudos for those who let their pants fall down for refusing rank. I walked away from a blackbelt test because the situation in which it was presented to me was one made from lies to me by a man I trusted. I was told it was a "work-out" then a "review" then later, after I walked out the door, my "test" - and I would have passed if I had only shown my sensei what I was made of (he said, also after the fact). Funny thing is, I did show him what I was made of - the training, the fair dealing, the honesty - it was all more important to me than a stupid shodan rank (not that shodan rank is stupid, don't anyone mis-read that, please). When someone asked me once why they had to keep going over the basics when they already knew them I replied it was because they didn't know them and weren't doing them right. So trust your sensei, and make sure he expects the same thing from you as he does from the other students in your grade.

[strangepair03]

To be honest, I hate pre-belts.

In my style we have the saying "Your belt is there to hold your pants up" another saying is "You're either it, or not it" You're either a black belt or not one.

We have no probationary or provisional belts in our style.

ALTHOUGH because you can't advance to Senior ranks (green, brown) until you're 14 some people are say 13 and on the highest junior belt (purple 3 stripes) So we give them I suppose a "provisional" belt of green, but when they turn to 14 they get the full one. But we only do this for that reason.

But remember, a belt is there to hold your pants up.

I agree with you on this. We also have a 10 kyu system but only have white,green,brown belts prior to shodan. A piece of tape on the belt does not indicate "high" or "low", it is a measure of time in rank.

And more importantly, just like you said, all the belt does is hold up you pants!

Domo

[bushido_man96]

Belts do more than hold your pants up. They indicate to the instructor what you know, and what you need to be taught. The indicate your seniority level in the class. And they help in partnering you for rank specific work.