Buying Belt Before Promotion?

[Nidan Melbourne]

Personally i think it is too early to do that. As much as I understand that people want to buy a belt (particularly a Black Belt) and use it is motivation to achieve.

But I have had friends who failed gradings for that belt and they stopped completely because they viewed themselves at not being worthy at all to hold that rank. Even when we have told them time and time again when we see them training that they are worthy of attaining that rank.

All they had to do was to go and train for that bit longer to sharpen those skills that they weren't as confident in. And they ended up achieving that goal several years later.

So it can often backfire to do it

[Rez]

I own what I've EARNED and was put on by my instructor. Buying a higher belt seems.... Almost dishonest.

[Lupin1]

Personally i think it is too early to do that. As much as I understand that people want to buy a belt (particularly a Black Belt) and use it is motivation to achieve.

But I have had friends who failed gradings for that belt and they stopped completely because they viewed themselves at not being worthy at all to hold that rank. Even when we have told them time and time again when we see them training that they are worthy of attaining that rank.

All they had to do was to go and train for that bit longer to sharpen those skills that they weren't as confident in. And they ended up achieving that goal several years later.

So it can often backfire to do it

Maybe that's a good reason to stop talking in terms of being "worthy" of a certain belt. When you get down to it-- a belt rank is just an indication of skill level. It's like saying my 10 year old isn't "worthy" of being in 4th grade, so we're keeping him back a year. It's not that he's not worthy, he's just not ready. If we talked more like that and stopped thinking of martial arts belts as magical strips of power that only those with a pure spirit can use to hold their shirt closed, maybe people wouldn't feel that way.

Honestly (and keep in mind this thread is like two years old) looking back on it now, the fact that I bought a brown strip of cloth a little early did nothing but put me out $30 or so when it turned out it didn't fit. It didn't do much to motivate me-- it hung in my closet with all my old belts and that's where it still is-- and when my instructor did promote me to that rank I went out and bought a belt that fit so I could wear it to class without tripping. I didn't feel any worthier of giving the company my money at that point than I did when I gave them my money a year or so before. Having a certain color strip of cloth sitting in my closet doing nothing is really just a waste of money. Decent lesson.

[ineluki]

o now it goes down past my knees, so once I actually do get promoted I'm going to have to buy a new belt anyway...

You could just cut it off...