iolair Posted September 18, 2003 Posted September 18, 2003 Starting next week, I'm going to be running a kickboxing club at the school where I teach... the style is basically American Kickboxing, aimed at competing Semi-Contact rules. I need to decide what to do about belt gradings... I am roughly brown-belt standard in kickboxing, but don't have a qualification (I'm quite happy that my level is sufficient to run the school club). I'm not currently member of any karate or kickboxing organisation. As far as I see it, I have three options... 1) Don't award belt grades. However, kids like this kind of reward and the idea of belts to aim for is likely to motivate them. 2) Get an outside black belt holder in to examine them. Not a bad idea, except that I don't know anyone suitable in the area (I haven't looked into it in too much detail yet though). 3) Award my own belts (only up to a level or two below brown belt), knowing that the belts will have no validity at all outside the school. What do you think? (BTW, the kids will be aged 11 - 16 years old) Currently: Kickboxing and variants.Previously: Karate (Seido, Shotokan, Seidokan), Ju Jitsu, Judo, Aikido, Fencing.
shotokanwarrior Posted September 18, 2003 Posted September 18, 2003 well boxing does not have belt rankings, but i must ask is kickboxing a real martial art? You may just want to rank them in order of there skill level like novice or advanced. Where Art ends, nature begins.
iolair Posted September 18, 2003 Author Posted September 18, 2003 well boxing does not have belt rankings, but i must ask is kickboxing a real martial art? You may just want to rank them in order of there skill level like novice or advanced.The kickboxing I've done did not have belt gradings - though a quick internet search found several kickboxing schools which did use belts. I need some sort of visible sign of achievement to motivate the kids... I think that belts would be best because most kids have a vague idea what they mean already.... Currently: Kickboxing and variants.Previously: Karate (Seido, Shotokan, Seidokan), Ju Jitsu, Judo, Aikido, Fencing.
kataman Posted September 18, 2003 Posted September 18, 2003 I would suggest some kind of colored t-Shirt because I don'T know of any kickboxing club with belt ranking but,it that kid need some kind of reward and at the same time you could put a crest on the t-shirt for some kind of publicity. I don't train for belt color I train to survive on the street
Immolation Posted September 18, 2003 Posted September 18, 2003 Any kind of award/ranking structure will motivate the kids. The prementioned T-Shirt idea would be a good one, even unofficial belts.
G95champ Posted September 19, 2003 Posted September 19, 2003 I would go with 2. Teach as you teach when people are ready to be graded make a few calls and have someone come in and test them for you. At the same time you can test under them. (General George S. Patton Jr.) "It's the unconquerable soul of man, and not the nature of the weapon he uses, that ensures victory."
iolair Posted September 19, 2003 Author Posted September 19, 2003 Thanks for your ideas... I'm going to go with awarding my own belts ... with the slight twist that I'll call them "Junior Yellow Belt", "Junior Orange Belt" etc - making it clear that if they go to an adult club they'll need to retest for an Adult grade. When they grade, I'll be using Coloured Belts with a White stripe down the middle to distinguish them from the full belt grades (will be buying them from here --> http://www.playwell.co.uk/store/acatalog/WebStore_Grading_Belts_2.html "Junior Grade Belt: Coloured with White Stripe"). My Ju-Jitsu Sensei, who's a very well rounded martial artist, has offered to come in occasionally as a guest instructor, so that should give me enough feedback to make sure I'm teaching my students at a high standard. Now I just need to wait and see how many actually turn up!! Currently: Kickboxing and variants.Previously: Karate (Seido, Shotokan, Seidokan), Ju Jitsu, Judo, Aikido, Fencing.
SoulAssassin Posted September 19, 2003 Posted September 19, 2003 Hey, all that matters is that your doing something helpful for the kids. Any reward you give them, wether it be patches, shirts, belts, well be great. Good luck. -SoulAssassin"I aint gonna eat, I aint gonna sleep, aint gonna breath till I see what I wanna see and what I wanna see is you goto asleep, in the dirt permanently"
G95champ Posted September 20, 2003 Posted September 20, 2003 iolair You must do what you think is best but take my advice don't cheapen your teaching but giving half ranks. Train thme and teach them then you can test them but have someone of rank looking over your shoulder to honor the grade you give. I would hate to work for 2 years and have a brown belt with a white stripe to only be told its not any good. I understand the training you give is going to be good but approval is big. Make sure you are up front about the grading system with every studnet. (General George S. Patton Jr.) "It's the unconquerable soul of man, and not the nature of the weapon he uses, that ensures victory."
cross Posted September 20, 2003 Posted September 20, 2003 Some kickboxing schools i have seen use coloured training singlets to denote grade. You could maybe put a club logo on them has well. And you could use a similar colour system to karate.
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