Being able to award rank?

[tacticalreload]

I have a simple question. I have a 2nd dan in TKD with the WTF (with kukkiwon, obviously). I no longer officially train at a school and don't really intend on opening a school.

My wife has expressed interest in beginning to learn TKD. I told her that, since I have experience teaching TKD in the past, that I feel comfortable training her. However, if she is going to put the time and effort into training, I would like to be able to test and award her ranks / belts, as appropriate. I know I can just go buy them at the store and give them to her, but that isn't what I want to do. Does anyone know how I would be able to go about making it more "official"? Is this something that I can even do?

Thanks in advance!

[DWx]

It depends how official you want it to be. Most ranks are only as official as the association/school backing them. I don't really know how WTF and the Kukkiwon work myself but I'm guessing that the Kukkiwon are really only interested in 1st dan and higher if you wanted to go down that route. If you wanted to grade your wife in coloured belts I guess you could go right ahead and then once the time comes for blackbelt see if you can attend a proper grading held on behalf of the WTF/Kukkiwon.

Or you could see if there is a organisation or something you could join as an instructor and then use their gradings.

Welcome to the forums by the way

[tacticalreload]

thanks for the welcome and the info!

[bushido_man96]

You could probably give her rank, but as mentioned, the credibility of the rank would be what is in question. I imagine that colored belts get certificates through the Kukkiwon, don't they? You would probably want some association to go through.

Otherwise, I would just train and not worry about the rank. Just train for skill.

[tacticalreload]

I'm not sure if Kukkiwon cares about colored belts. I would guess not, but I'm not positive. Maybe I should call them and find out.

[bushido_man96]

I would check there, first. Otherwise, how do they know that those testing for black belt have credentials?

[tallgeese]

If you are interested in staying under the organization you leraned under they I would check with them to find out what you need to be an "instructor". It may be a relitively easy process if you're already a black belt. Then it would be nice an offical.

Conversly, if you're not all that attached to your organization, t here are probibly plenty of independant federations and such that you could register with and utilize their certificates while teaching your cirriculum.

A third option is to simply teach your style and rank her yourself. Have cert printed that you like at a store that will do such things and order the belts from any number of supply houses. Now before I get flamed for this- how much more legitimeate is a rank just because it's from an organization? Really? Can you teach her what you learned and keep it authentic? If the answer is yes, then you could go for it.

The organization I grew up in went belly up some time back and this is the path I've gone. The proof of worth in an art is what it's practitioners are able to do, not where their certificates come from. If your students can stand on a floor with anyone else, then you've got no worries and if a school is that worried about pedigree then I probably counldn't stand training with them anyway.

[DWx]

The Kukkiwon is only interested in dan ranks:

http://www.kukkiwon.or.kr/english/examination/examination08.jsp?div=01

[bushido_man96]

Very well said, tallgeese.

So, if the Kukkiwon is only interested in the Dan ranks, then perhaps you need to go through the WTF for the colored belt ranks.

[Zanshin]

I have a simple question. I have a 2nd dan in TKD with the WTF (with kukkiwon, obviously). I no longer officially train at a school and don't really intend on opening a school.

My wife has expressed interest in beginning to learn TKD. I told her that, since I have experience teaching TKD in the past, that I feel comfortable training her. However, if she is going to put the time and effort into training, I would like to be able to test and award her ranks / belts, as appropriate. I know I can just go buy them at the store and give them to her, but that isn't what I want to do. Does anyone know how I would be able to go about making it more "official"? Is this something that I can even do?

Thanks in advance!

If you have useful knowledge and experience that you can pass on to your wife, isn't that enough? Do you think that she really needs a piece of paper/belt? If it is important to you / your wife to have this as a goal, then perhaps you need to become a member of an association who can authenticate the grade.

Otherwise you are right back where you started.