SaiFightsMS Posted August 17, 2002 Posted August 17, 2002 On one level the black belt is a point that seperates those who wanted a black belt, and had the physical ability, to stick it out get the belt and quit from those who truly want to learn a martial art. Those who stay at that point prove themselves to be a true student and begin over again in a sense. The top slat on my belt rack is occupied by a white belt to symbolise the new start rather than a black belt.
KickChick Posted August 17, 2002 Posted August 17, 2002 I honestly believe that you will get differing answers to that question. You can tell by their answers who has a black belt and who does not.... at least it is apparent to me. You'll get different answers from practitioners of different styles. Ask someone of the general public and you will receive yet another different answer to this question "What does a black belt mean to you?" There are many myths concerning the "black belt" ... we have many threads on this particular subject already The word that used to be associated with black belt was 'coveted' because not too many people could earn one. To me a measure of my skill and diligence ... not a beginnng or an end. To quote a t-shirt of mine: "Thousands of hours of training, Hundreds of classes, Countless bumps & bruises.... One Black Belt
taezee Posted August 17, 2002 Posted August 17, 2002 a black belt used to mean alot to me...when i first started training.you saw a black belt..and you saw the way he?she carried themselves..and the motivation was there that someday..id be one too..six and a half years later i "earned" my black belt..it wasnt given to me..i didnt purchase it..I knew what it meant on that day to be a black belt..now today..black belts seem to out number color ranks.. you got five..six year olds with black belts..you have people training for two years who have black belts..honorary black belts...it doesnt have the same meaning or honor it once did.. Javier l Rosario instructor taekwondo/hapkidounder master Atef s Himaya"whenever youre lazy enough not to train .someone, somewhere is training very hard to kick your *"
Karateka_latino Posted August 18, 2002 Posted August 18, 2002 Black belt is the end of the basic training and the start on the way of perfection. Like entering on the maturity of the martial arts. Its an End and a New beggining
DeeLovesKarate Posted August 18, 2002 Posted August 18, 2002 a black belt to me means someone who has worked hard and is devoted to there art. I agree. Blackbelt is supposed to be your personal best. Unfortunatly, not all blackbelts fit the standard of what a blackbelt should be. I am not saying they're not good, some of them just don't care, or work hard enough, to get these " bragging rights" of being a blackbelt. I know that when I become a blackbelt, I will work to do justice to my belt, fellow students, and my school. Most of all, to myself. In the end, you are all that YOU have to answer to. If you are happy with yourself, you know you have done well, but that is only if you set your standards high. Measure yourself, in the way you measure other martial artists, but always remember; you are NOT them, and don't try to be, because that is the way it should be. Write down what it means to be a blackbelt, or a true martial artist, to you. Use that as the guidlines for grading your performance. Grrrrrrrrr, Dee Dee C.Normal ( 'nor-m&l)-an adj. used by humans to stereotype
three60roundhouse Posted August 18, 2002 Posted August 18, 2002 [color=indigo]While I was training only in TKD, I always thought of getting my black belt as the time when I'd finally be able to prove myself. In TKD that's still what it is, I guess. I'm 15. In my school, that's just about the worst age to be. We don't have set ages for our classes. So when I train in the juniors class, I find myself beating most of the people there. When I go to train with the adults, they all whoop me pretty badly. There's never a hapy medium. I am bored in one class and overwhelmed in the other. There are so few teenagers in my school, oftentimes i find myself the youngest in the class by as much as seven years! I have no one with which I can connect. I'm training all the time with the adults now. I don't have very many friends in class. They all joke around with the instructors and call them by their first names... "Bill, Marty", to me they will always be "Mr. Stevens and Mr. Holmgren" because in the kids class you feel under the instructors for some reason. I think when I get my black belt, people will stop thinking of me as the quiet girl who works her butt off every single class just to go home totally battered and start thinking of me as the girl who may be physically the weakest, but to overcome adversity and a huge age gap, must be the strongest mentally. In jiu-jitsu, black belt to me is another world. After 6 months of training I am a white belt, no stripes (you need four stripes to be considered for promotion). I have never trained with a jiu-jitsu black belt, only browns and below. Black belt truly means mastery in BJJ; after 12 years of training the smallest and most dedicated percentage makes it there. Maybe one day I will have two! [/color] 1st dan Tae Kwon DoYellow Belt Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu16 Years OldGirls kick butt!
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