is your rank forever?

[jaymac]

Definitely explain to your instructor that you have trained previously. However, don't feel offended at wearing a white belt again. You (as said earlier) will be recognized as knowing more than normal for a white belt. You may ask to go through a probationary period, but I doubt it will take you long to reach your current rank. I know that if I was out for an extended length of time, I would not want to come in with my black belt at a new school and do the rank or my past instructor injustice.

[Jiffy]

Rank is determined by what is in our head, not what is on our waist!

[tke010]

Rank is determined by what is in our head, not what is on our waist!

i agree with Jiffy.

I could care less what belt color i have on. I just want to continue to learn and have fun.

Even beginner white belts can teach you somethings (by teaching them and answering their questions as to why something works\doesn't work. they make you think...)

I would want to be white belt if training in another style, I just want to learn everything i can. i can combine all my knowledge at home making me a better martial artists.

Question, how many people have seen black belts in competitions do forms as a black belt, then spar in the white belt division with a white belt on... (i have not competed in several years, but witnessed this on several occassions during my competiotn years)

[legkicker]

Rank is determined by what is in our head, not what is on our waist!

i agree with Jiffy.

I could care less what belt color i have on. I just want to continue to learn and have fun.

Even beginner white belts can teach you somethings (by teaching them and answering their questions as to why something works\doesn't work. they make you think...)

I would want to be white belt if training in another style, I just want to learn everything i can. i can combine all my knowledge at home making me a better martial artists.

Question, how many people have seen black belts in competitions do forms as a black belt, then spar in the white belt division with a white belt on... (i have not competed in several years, but witnessed this on several occassions during my competiotn years)

I've never seen this because it wouldn't even be allowed in the USANKF/WKF/AAU. I wish I have though, it would make a good laugh. Is this the norm now? I haven't been to a point tournament in about ten years and only go to mma/muay thai/knockdown competitions now.

[kenpo.stylist]

yeah, I've seen that...I was actually training at one place for about a month and my sensei was a 3rd degree black belt, but told me that he spars at a brown belt level so he wears a brown belt to competition. My opinion is that he got his black belt because rent was due and he gave the master a couple hundred dollars for it.

[l32]

I've been in a similar situation recently and it's kindof tough. I earned a 2nd degree black belt in Shotokan, which I trained in for 12 years. The school where I trained and taught went out of business and I was unable to train for the past three years (except at home on my own). We recently had a CTF TKD school open and I went in to try it out. When the instructor asked me if I had ever done any martial arts I told her about my background. When I started, she told me I could either start completely over at white belt, or I could keep my 2nd degree rank and just work my way up in TKD by learning the different patterns and techniques. Her suggestion was to keep my rank so that I wouldn't get too bored with no new material between testing periods (because she doesn't like to teach someone anything above their "rank" to be fair to all students). So, I've been in TKD since May, and I am technically at the blue belt level right now, but my instructor has taught me a 2nd degree black belt pattern for tournament purposes.

Tournaments are another reason I still wear my black belt, even though I changed schools and styles. Even though I am not technically a black belt in TKD, I don't feel it would be fair to compete at a lower rank. I started TKD on May 1 and competed in my first TKD tournament on May 27. Would it have been fair for me to compete against white belts? I don't really feel like it would have been. So, in 27 days, I trained really hard to learn some of the TKD basics and a 2nd Degree Black Belt Pattern to compete with. I was proud though, I came in 4th place.

Back to my point....it needs to be discussed with the instructor and it should be a mutual agreement between the student and the instructor as to whether you keep your rank or start over. Of course, most instructors don't allow you to keep your rank if you're not a black belt.

[Jiffy]

Personally, I believe that your rank only applies to the style in which you learned it, and unfortunately, only if they choose to recognise it.

It would be fair for a Emergency Department doctor to walk into a theatre and start cutting people up just because he is also a doctor. He is not a surgeon. Same field, different area.

Same thing with MA

[Jiffy]

Add:

To wear a BB in a style you have not graded as such is insulting those who have.

In our school, of which I am the co-founder, I am studying Jiu Jitsu under our chief instructor. Although I am a BB in Karate, and also the highest rank in the school (besides our chief instructor) doesn't mean I have a BB in Jiu Jitsu, so I wear my grade belt. Moreover: the guys I train along side are my students in Karate, but when it comes to JJ, I am no different to them.

[bushido_man96]

Good points, Jiffy.

When going into different styles, it is usually best to talk with the instructor to find out how to go about dealing with the rank you wear in class. When I started over in a different TKD school, I had to start at white belt again, and I was ok with this. However, I would not go to the tournaments as a colored belt and compete, because I had attained a 2nd degree in another TKD association. Just didn't seem right to me.

[Shotokan-kez]

I had ten years out before i went back to my original club. The sensei did remember me and allowed me back on my old belt, but i had to stay there for six months before i could grade. As everyone else says im sure it will come flooding back as it did with me, you'll soon have that black belt on again!