Protocol for a new student with rank in another marital art

[Kevin Wilson]

agree with bassaiguy says more about the student. I was away from karate for a couple years and turned up with my white belt and was reluctant to put on my black belt.

[unknownstyle]

I think a white belt should be worn except for in visiting situations. But it needs to be well known to others that you are a blackbelt. People not knowing this who are also low ranking may look and think if your are as crisp or talented as you are and are still wearing the same rank as them that they may as well give up because they think they can't achieve the same level.

[ashworth]

When I have a new student that has had previous experience I assess them over a period of 4-6 weeks to see where they best fit in the style and award them what grade suits best..

[Dobbersky]

OSU!!! Sensei, I totally understand where you're coming from.

I have had a few students from other styles who were black belts but couldn't keep up with the lower Kyu grades when it come to Kumite! I used to have everyone who wanted to train with me wear a white belt to begin with except Knock-down Karateka from all the various Orgs etc as I too know the politics involved.

Now through the years I decided that only knock-down karateka would I honour whatever grade they were and only Black belts from other styles were allowed to wear their belts. They still have to work through the syllabus though!

For me in my syllabus its 10 x 3 min fights for Shodan and 12 x 3 min fights for Nidan & Sandan. I also expect black belts to compete in the inter clubs we do.

The fact of the matter is, its YOUR dojo so you make the rules and that's it.

Another way around it is have them wear the relevant belt, white to Brown, but put a thick black band around 1 end to recognise their Dan grade in their other style!

OSU

[Ueshirokarate]

In our style, if you already have a black belt you aren't asked to removed it. My instructor's philosophy is that by taking off your Black belt you are saying that you are forgetting all of your previous training (or something along those lines). That person gets to stand in rank with the black belts but they train under the same syllabus as whatever their current level is in our style.

Students who have any other high level (but below black) in another style can grade for purple belt (half way to black) as long as they can demonstrate all the appropriate techniques.

I agree with the advanced gradings but I don't entirely agree with my instructor on his black belt rule.

If you are a guest or doing once off training at another dojo, then I think you should wear your full normal uniform. If you are actually training the other style as a student then you start at white belt just like everyone else. (Perhaps with advanced gradings).

I like to think of a black belt as having a trade qualification, with different MA styles being different trades. If you get a fully qualified plumber you can't have him walk in to another company and automatically become a fully paid qualified electrician. Just as you can't have a Black Belt TKD walk in to a BJJ club and expect to receive the same recognition.

I actually like your instructor's approach. It shows great respect and humility. Your instructor must be an awesome teacher. I also like Dobbersky's idea with the black stripe.

[ninjanurse]

We do the Black Stripe at our dojo to denote a Black Belt in another system-works nicely.

[JohnnyB]

I came back to the same dojo to practice shotokan after 18 years of absence. Out of respect I wore a white belt without asking anyone since I expected to go through the syllabus again.

My previous rank was 8th kyu and I still remembered the 1st kata quite well since I earned a medal competing in the past.

After 2 weeks with the beginners my Sensei told me I will be wearing my Yellow belt again and switched me to train with the coloured belts class.

Its all up to the sensei imho. You must abide to his rules if u expect him to teach you. Nevertheless noone wears a belt outside class so your martial art within you is all that matters.

[Evil Dave]

It is your school and your rules... The one issue that comes up with university and military based clubs/schools {this could include the schools in the surrounding areas} is that you can get a number of visiting students. These are people that are there for anywhere from a month to a year and are looking for a place to train. They are not going to be advancing through your system, they are going to be coming in, working out with you, learning with you and then going back home. How you treat these people is different then someone moving into town and going to be training up through your ranks.

I had seen this when I was young and still in the army. On our base at the time the Karate club was run by ...... well lets not go there. I hear now it's a good club, congrats. I ended up training at the Aikido club and had a great experience there. We always had visiting students from various MA and parts of the world, so the instructor had an interesting way of welcoming everybody. Once a week, any individual with a black belt in their art was asked to put it on regardless of the art. For the last hour they were all asked to demonstrate their art and put it into context of the class. In doing so, I not only learned Aikido, but had healthy introduction into different arts and their approaches.

[GeterDone]

I practiced judo for a number of years as a youth before I joined karate when I was just shy of being an adult. I didn't wear my belt because I knew next to nothing about karate. Similarly, we've had black belts from other martial arts, such as aikido but my sensei insisted if they were going to train with us, then they must wear a white belt until he can gauge whether they'll be better suited to a higher belt. If they wanted to visit only, then they could wear their black belt.