Age requirements to reach Black Belt?

[sensei8]

18 hours ago, Nidan Melbourne said:

Out of curiousity; what do you mean by responsibilities? 

First let me say that I believe that by the time that one earns a black belt, that practitioner possesses within them the power to inflict upon another human being a great amount of suffering.

After all, we martial artists are not learning how to bake, no, we’re taught to be very effective in defending family, friends, the innocents, and of course, ourselves in a timely manner.

Earning a black belt should not be treated as though it’s some kind of trophy to brag about, but remaining humble through respect, reverence and honor.

"Absolute power corrupts absolutely", and this is true if the earning of black belt is misunderstood and misused. Earning a black belt can get in your head, and therefore, it can begin to corrupt the practitioner.

“With great power comes great responsibilities”; power is to not be used for wrong and should not be exploited at will.

"From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked". We martial arts instructors have both the privilege as well as the responsibility towards our Student Body, of which, we shouldn’t ever take that what we’ve been entrusted with lightly.

As a black belt, our moral compass demands that our responsibility is directly proportionate to our power. Where there is great power there is great responsibility, where there is less power there is less responsibility, and where there is no power there can be no responsibility.

No matter the rank, responsibility exists!!

Imho.

[KarateKen]

21 hours ago, sensei8 said:

 

No matter the rank, responsibility exists!!

 

Agreed. 

[Zaine]

On 8/12/2025 at 2:43 AM, sensei8 said:

First let me say that I believe that by the time that one earns a black belt, that practitioner possesses within them the power to inflict upon another human being a great amount of suffering.

This line here distills a lot of how I feel about young black belts. It is our job, not only as adults but especially as instructors whose responsibility it is to guide the journey of these kids, to set a good example. Kids are sponges, and they lack the nuance to decipher when someone is good for them or bad. They're dopamine monsters, just like we all are. They will seek whatever gives them that boost. Whatever makes them feel like they have a place. What are bullys but people who are scared that they have no place in the world? When we teach karate, for whatever reason, in whatever way, we instill within our students not only confidence to stand up and face challenges, but the ability to be violent about it. This is why good instructors focus so much on the budo of martial arts. We are meant to teach honor, compassion, and understanding. No teacher worth their salt teaches that violence is a first reaction. It is, unequivocally, a parent/guardian's job to imbue their children with a strong moral compass. However, these are hardly ever the only players in a child's life. As much as I am a product of my parent's beliefs and philosophies, I also have a lot of others to thank for shaping me. Despite the philosophical issues I have with my original teacher, I will forever be indebted to him helping me (and, by extension, my parents) shape myself into the man I am today. It's an incredible responsibility, being a teacher. We're not always going to make the right decisions. The same is true about parents. However, being honest about our shortcomings and showing our students and children that we, too, are human is important. I've seen too many black belts, adult and children alike, who wear it as a status symbol. Black belts aren't meant to remove us from the equation, making us above the others. Black belts are meant to put us at the front, so that our example can make the world a better place.

[Nidan Melbourne]

On 8/14/2025 at 12:24 AM, Zaine said:

This line here distills a lot of how I feel about young black belts. It is our job, not only as adults but especially as instructors whose responsibility it is to guide the journey of these kids, to set a good example. Kids are sponges, and they lack the nuance to decipher when someone is good for them or bad. They're dopamine monsters, just like we all are. They will seek whatever gives them that boost. Whatever makes them feel like they have a place. What are bullys but people who are scared that they have no place in the world? When we teach karate, for whatever reason, in whatever way, we instill within our students not only confidence to stand up and face challenges, but the ability to be violent about it. This is why good instructors focus so much on the budo of martial arts.

We are meant to teach honor, compassion, and understanding. No teacher worth their salt teaches that violence is a first reaction. It is, unequivocally, a parent/guardian's job to imbue their children with a strong moral compass. However, these are hardly ever the only players in a child's life. As much as I am a product of my parent's beliefs and philosophies, I also have a lot of others to thank for shaping me.

Despite the philosophical issues I have with my original teacher, I will forever be indebted to him helping me (and, by extension, my parents) shape myself into the man I am today. It's an incredible responsibility, being a teacher. We're not always going to make the right decisions. The same is true about parents.

However, being honest about our shortcomings and showing our students and children that we, too, are human is important. I've seen too many black belts, adult and children alike, who wear it as a status symbol. Black belts aren't meant to remove us from the equation, making us above the others.

Black belts are meant to put us at the front, so that our example can make the world a better place.

 

Thanks for sharing that! 

Something I kind of want to add to my previous points which is that a Black Belt is supposed to give us a better perspective on how things are going in this world and to give us the tools to assist us. 

Now how we use those tools varies person to person, one being know when to talk abou being a Black Belt in a Martial Art over not talking about it. 

To me it is like my knowledge/skills are that little pocket knife that you keep in your back pocket; you don't go around telling people that you have it but when you need it its there. 

So with that when I go out, i'd talk about everything else but MA. Even with my friends, the closest thing I talk about MA with them are movies and TV shows that talk about it. For example; how much it annoys me when I watch "Bloodsport" (yes that Bloodsport about Frank Dux), of how Jean-Claude Van Damme does his weird hoppy style fighting stance. Especially after a kick where its a skip skip skippy knee. 

Even where I get into situations where a fight is possible; i'd rather communicate to see if i can resolve it first that way before having to use something else. Which I believe is a skill that not many instructors teach nor the same at schools/universities. If we were simply taught to use our words first above all else, I wonder how much less conflict there would be?

[Montana]

This is something that has been a pet peeve of mine for YEARS! Should a child be awarded a black belt?

I guess it depends on what you consider the skills a holder of a black belt should have.

I agree that a 1st degree black belt is just someone that has grasped the basic skills of the art. They should understand the stances, punches, blocks and other techniques that make the FOUNDATION of the art, but are certainly not masters of that art yet.

I liken it to public schooling. The colored grades are 1st grade thru high school. You can read, write, put together sentences into paragraphs, etc, but not yet ready to write a book.

For me, a person that has achieved the skills required and necessary to be awarded a black belt needs the maturity, mental fitness, awareness, skills and experience necessary to effectively DEFEND themselves against an average opponent on the street in a real life, self-defense situation.

Under those criteria, would a child of 6-15 be able to do that? Unlikely.

What I adopted in my dojo for younger students that had the knowledge of the kata and techniques, but not the maturity. awareness or experience at the level they should have. These students were given a brown belt with a black stripe running thru it. They would have all of the perks and privileges of a black belt in class, and as long as they continued to pursue the art. train hard, show improvement, gain the "seasoning" and experience that only time can give, they would be awarded their black belt. The usual understanding was on their 16th birthday, but that was NOT set in stone, as maturity varies a lot among 16-year-olds.

I always ran a small school. I wasn't trying to make a living at it, other than a 3 year period, because I feel doing that cheapens the art. I was content just paying my bills those 3 years but decided I liked teaching in my basement better.

[Nidan Melbourne]

On 8/24/2025 at 6:46 AM, Montana said:

This is something that has been a pet peeve of mine for YEARS! Should a child be awarded a black belt?

I guess it depends on what you consider the skills a holder of a black belt should have.

I agree that a 1st degree black belt is just someone that has grasped the basic skills of the art. They should understand the stances, punches, blocks and other techniques that make the FOUNDATION of the art, but are certainly not masters of that art yet.

I liken it to public schooling. The colored grades are 1st grade thru high school. You can read, write, put together sentences into paragraphs, etc, but not yet ready to write a book.

For me, a person that has achieved the skills required and necessary to be awarded a black belt needs the maturity, mental fitness, awareness, skills and experience necessary to effectively DEFEND themselves against an average opponent on the street in a real life, self-defense situation.

Under those criteria, would a child of 6-15 be able to do that? Unlikely.

What I adopted in my dojo for younger students that had the knowledge of the kata and techniques, but not the maturity. awareness or experience at the level they should have. These students were given a brown belt with a black stripe running thru it. They would have all of the perks and privileges of a black belt in class, and as long as they continued to pursue the art. train hard, show improvement, gain the "seasoning" and experience that only time can give, they would be awarded their black belt. The usual understanding was on their 16th birthday, but that was NOT set in stone, as maturity varies a lot among 16-year-olds.

I always ran a small school. I wasn't trying to make a living at it, other than a 3 year period, because I feel doing that cheapens the art. I was content just paying my bills those 3 years but decided I liked teaching in my basement better.

 

On 8/24/2025 at 6:46 AM, Montana said:

For me, a person that has achieved the skills required and necessary to be awarded a black belt needs the maturity, mental fitness, awareness, skills and experience necessary to effectively DEFEND themselves against an average opponent on the street in a real life, self-defense situation.

Can you define an "Average Opponent" when it comes to Kids, Teens against Adults? 

Something I feel like a lot of people tend to forget is that kids face their own issues when it comes to violence. 

Looking at my own experience of growing up; did I face much in terms of potential violence against an Adult? Nope. But if I change that to Potential Violence coming from another Teenager? Of course I have. 

 

Now this is a two parter; the younger group (6-12 yrs) I woudn't expect that grasp the above. And this is where I'm ok with not awarding a Black Belt; but a Junior Black Belt. 

However Teens (13+), I feel like with the onset of puberty they have another world in comparison to adults. They face different forms of bullying (both physical, psychological and social) for a longer period of time in comparison to adults.

What do I mean? 

I know i'm probably one of the youngest members here. But when I look at my education; as I went to a somewhat expensive private day school. And i dealt with a god awful about of rich-boy attitudes and rich-girl (via my schools co-ordinate program with the nearby girls school). 

The types of bullying (aka violence) I at least saw outside of the Physical Nature, was a god awful amount of the Social and Verbal bullying.  

Have I had to deal with the physical violence? unfortunately yes. 

On 8/24/2025 at 6:46 AM, Montana said:

These students were given a brown belt with a black stripe running thru it.

We have these belts as our 1st Kyu rank; as it is a fair indicator that they aren't completely a Brown Belt but also aren't completly a Black Belt yet either. 

[Montana]

5 hours ago, Nidan Melbourne said:

 

Can you define an "Average Opponent" when it comes to Kids, Teens against Adults? 

Something I feel like a lot of people tend to forget is that kids face their own issues when it comes to violence. 

Looking at my own experience of growing up; did I face much in terms of potential violence against an Adult? Nope. But if I change that to Potential Violence coming from another Teenager? Of course I have. 

 

Now this is a two parter; the younger group (6-12 yrs) I woudn't expect that grasp the above. And this is where I'm ok with not awarding a Black Belt; but a Junior Black Belt. 

However Teens (13+), I feel like with the onset of puberty they have another world in comparison to adults. They face different forms of bullying (both physical, psychological and social) for a longer period of time in comparison to adults.

What do I mean? 

I know i'm probably one of the youngest members here. But when I look at my education; as I went to a somewhat expensive private day school. And i dealt with a god awful about of rich-boy attitudes and rich-girl (via my schools co-ordinate program with the nearby girls school). 

The types of bullying (aka violence) I at least saw outside of the Physical Nature, was a god awful amount of the Social and Verbal bullying.  

Have I had to deal with the physical violence? unfortunately yes. 

We have these belts as our 1st Kyu rank; as it is a fair indicator that they aren't completely a Brown Belt but also aren't completly a Black Belt yet either. 

"Average Opponent" would be your average. untrained adult walking down the street.

Teen or child, that would be an average other teen or child.