Junior Ranks

[The Pred]

Now I know some schools do junior black belts, and also some schools do special belts for 4-5 year olds. However, my question is, does any school do say junior yellow, junior blue etc? I mean obviously a full blown shodan is higher than a junior black belt. But lining up in rank order seems odd that a kid blue belt would stand in line with adult blue belts. I mean, I'm not here to argue what is right or wrong.

But is a junior black belt the only rank that essentially gets a junior rank?

[aurik]

Or school does junior belts, which are denoted by a white stripe through the center of the belt. Kids from 4-6 year olds do the "junior" curriculum working from white belt through junior 3rd kyu (brown belt). When a kid ages out from the junior program, they tend to work their way through the adult curriculum faster. The junior curriculum teaches the requirements for (adult) 9th kyu in a much more easy-to-digest format. By the time a student has earned their junior brown belt, they've learned all of the requirements for (adult) 9th kyu, along with bits of the requirements for (adult) 6th kyu.

We do also have junior black belts - they have the same time-in-rank and technical requirements, but a student can test for shodan-sho (junior black belt) at 11 or so. It's also not uncommon for a student to test for nidan-sho and (adult) shodan at the same time.

It has been our CI's experience that most of the students who earn their junior brown belt continue on to earn their black belts.

[sensei8]

Now I know some schools do junior black belts, and also some schools do special belts for 4-5 year olds. However, my question is, does any school do say junior yellow, junior blue etc? I mean obviously a full blown shodan is higher than a junior black belt. But lining up in rank order seems odd that a kid blue belt would stand in line with adult blue belts. I mean, I'm not here to argue what is right or wrong.

But is a junior black belt the only rank that essentially gets a junior rank?

We've only one junior rank, and that is JBB.

[The Pred]

Thanks !

[Wastelander]

Well, before some personal setbacks and COVID, while I was prepping to open my own dojo, I had set up a structure where my childrens' ranks were completely separate from the adult ones. This is an idea that I shamelessly stole from BJJ, lol. I figured there was no sense in trying to have kids and adults learn the exact same curriculum in the exact same way/order and just breaking the belts into pieces, although that is what my previous instructors did. I liked the idea of setting up a youth program that had its own curriculum, which would build up to where they could join the adult program sometime in their teens and be well prepared to do so.

[DWx]

Now I know some schools do junior black belts, and also some schools do special belts for 4-5 year olds. However, my question is, does any school do say junior yellow, junior blue etc? I mean obviously a full blown shodan is higher than a junior black belt. But lining up in rank order seems odd that a kid blue belt would stand in line with adult blue belts. I mean, I'm not here to argue what is right or wrong.

But is a junior black belt the only rank that essentially gets a junior rank?

So for us its always time in grade which is important, not age. So a 16 year old blue belt who's had the grade for 6 months may be more senior than a 50 year old blue belt who only just got the grade.

We have junior blackbelts, they have a white stripe through the centre of their belts. They are always junior to a full/adult blackbelt.