Wish Me Luck!

SaiFightsMS · May 10, 2002

Good luck to you. I remember my last brown belt testing. Shudders. That was the test where half the kids started barfing and other assorted things.

Please don't share germs before testing time.

Good luck. :up: :up:

monkeygirl · May 10, 2002

On 2002-05-09 20:55, KickChick wrote:

Hey monkeygirl ... could you please tell us more about your grading system

... I am interested in hearing just what your "modern American TKD" (is it ATA?) school is all about .... what hyungs/forms .... sparring .... belt system and requirements to advance.

Ok, this is gonna be a long post

I call it "Modern American TKD" because it's not pure TKD. It's a blending of many styles, such as karate, TKD, krav maga, kung fu, I add a little wu shu My instructor basically goes to conferences and picks up new techniques that he likes.

We have a 10-belt system, which goes: White, yellow, orange, green, blue, purple, red, 2nd brown, 1st brown, jr. black (for kids) & black.

Forms (katas) are as follows (sorry if my spelling's off): Yellow--Choong-ji (White has the first half of this kata), Orange--Toe-san, Green--Advanced Form 2, Blue--Yol-Guk, Purple--Advanced Form 4, Red--Advanced Form 5, 2nd Brown--Ha-Wang, 1st Brown--Chung-Mu, Black--K-Beck (jr. blacks=same).

Every month, usually on the 3rd Wednesday & Thursday (adult & kids, respectively), we have test nights, where everyone tests together. If someone misses, they can reschedule. If someone is testing for their purple or above, they test on a special saturday test.

White belts advance to yellow in about a month. After that, each belt (except for black) gets three stripes (made out of electrical tape), one a month. The first stripe is White Stripe, for blocks & kicks. Next is Black Stripe for sparring & self-defense, finally red stripe for katas & one-steps (artistic self-defense based off of one simple attack).

The stripes are meant to break down the requirements step-by-step. When you have all 3 stripes you're ready to test.

Blackbelts use a star system (little yellow star patches that go on the gi jacket), where they fill an entire card (see below) COMPLETELY. These stars require everything the blackbelt has ever earned, and is like a blackbelt test in itself. It usually takes 4 months to fill a card, and 4 stars until the next degree/dan.

We have an attendance card system with varying amounts of lines for each belt. A student pulls their card upon arrival and it is marked with a date at the end of the night. They must have two rows of dates filled to test for each stripe, and completely filled for a belt.

I could go on to list every single requirement we have...but we'd be here awhile.

KickChick · May 10, 2002

Thanks for the info monkeygirl ... I can better understand "where you are coming from" now.

Our school is far more traditional TKD ... different belts (we have 3 degrees for childrens brown) but we call it 1st deg. then comes 2nd deg. and then 3rd. deg. No jr. Black (but I do wish our school had that rank).

If you are interested in viewing our requirement curriculum (yes would be a long post!) Go to http://www.aitkd.com click Tae Kwon Do and then choose from above belt requirements.

.... again good luck

Lau gar · May 10, 2002

good luck hope you do well

ZeRo · May 10, 2002

good luck!!! :up:

CTpizzaboy · May 11, 2002

Good luck at testing, monkeygirl. I love going to testing. It gives me an adrenaline rush, but without all the bruises which I get at tournaments. Relax and remember that all the judges want you to past; at least thats what my sensei tells me.