Being pushed hard to promote

[Greg King]

My son is a red belt right now(as of end of march),and a very well trained Martial Artist ,the blackbelts at his school are pushing him very hard to promote in november to blackbelt,and even invited him to free private lessons on sunday to prepare him.Just curious to know, is it normal to promote to blackbelt in under a year. I'm not bragging just curious why they want it to happen so quick.:idunno: Including teaching at the park district on thursdays he now has 11 classes of MA a week :asian:

 

[terryl965]

Gregg in my own opinion a year to soon to be a Black belt, I have been training for forty years and in that time the earliest I've seen has been two and a half, my question for you is why are they in a hurry. What is in it for them? next question how old is your son? Has he done another style and does he fully understand all the application to your system and if not then it is your finale say weather he test or not!

My last bit here my oldest has been training since he was two and it took him until 9 to get his poom BB from me (Kukkiwn) and that was 7 years of training. He is good but even he could not learn eveything one year and I own my school, I would be worring just a lttle and ask question to why are they in a hurry and see what happens.
Terry

 

[Brother John]

My son is a red belt right now(as of end of march),and a very well trained Martial Artist ,the blackbelts at his school are pushing him very hard to promote in november to blackbelt,and even invited him to free private lessons on sunday to prepare him.Just curious to know, is it normal to promote to blackbelt in under a year. I'm not bragging just curious why they want it to happen so quick.:idunno: Including teaching at the park district on thursdays he now has 11 classes of MA a week :asian:

Wow.... that's a lot of classes.
With 11 classes and several concerned advanced Black Belts rootin for him and helping him at every turn....sounds like he's got everything a young student could ask for!!
Good for your son!

I don't think this is out of line. With that many hours, plus I'm sure he practices on his own time as well, plus all those upper-students and instructors helping him so much.... He's simply rising to his potential and they see it and are urging him onward.

PROBLEM will be...once he gets it, don't let him think he's DONE. Keep him going. Many (most) consider the Black Belt THE goal. Its not. It's just one more step on the way.

Your Brother
John

 

[matt.m]

I am going to play devils advocate here and say that one year is just way too fast. In Moo Sul Kwan it takes approximately 4 years to be thought of for testing for black belt. That is Tae kwon Do and Hapkido. This time period is based on a brand new beginner white belt.

Now, I did practice Judo for a few years and Got my Brown Belt ranking certified through the USJA. My instructor let me test out of the white, yellow and green belt and brought me straight in as a brown belt. So I spent two and a half years going through brown 1st, 2nd, and 3rd. I was two months away from testing for dan and the person got stationed elsewhere.

It is also my belief that a person can be fab at forms and kicking. However the maturity and understanding is not there. There hasn't been enough time for it to be embedded, engrained, and nurtured.

 

[Brother John]

It is also my belief that a person can be fab at forms and kicking. However the maturity and understanding is not there. There hasn't been enough time for it to be embedded, engrained, and nurtured.

There's no way to know that unless you know the person. I've known people (even teen-agers) who had the maturity and understanding yet were low ranked and hadn't trained for that long. IF they are receptive and have great potential and have ELEVEN classes a week and several Black Belts encouraging them and giving free lessons each week....
It COULD be possible.

Your Brother
John

 

[cbursk]

Hello,
I think a few of you are reading the year time length wrong. What I think Greg is saying is that his son will have been a red belt for a year when he tests for his black belt, not that he has only been training for a year total. If his son is a red belt then (depending on that schools approach) then he has probably been training there for about 3 years already.

Greg from the sounds of things - with the amount of training he is putting in - testing from red to black belt after a year of being a red belt is fine. Given the amount training though, I would watch out for burnout to creep in.

However, if I am indeed wrong about how I interpreted the time line and you are saying that your son already a red belt after less than a year of training... I would take a hard look at whether this school is a belt factory.

 

[matt.m]

Yes, I agree if he has time spent to go throught the Gup ranks, I concur. For in MSK it takes at least one year time in grade as a red to be considered for dan testing.

 

[karatekid1975]

I agree with cbursk. One year from red to black is about normal. My dojang has two ranks for red (2nd and 1st gup), and it takes roughly a year to get through them. Except for me (various injuries, surgeries, ect. It took me a year to test for 1st gup alone).

I also agree with the burn-out thing. And Brother John also made a good point. Make sure he knows that BB is NOT the goal, but just the beginning.

 

[fireman00]

Two years from Red to Red/ Black stripe to Black Belt is what I've seen in my previous and present schools.

 

[bluemtn]

It'll take me about a year (or a little more than) for me to test for a black belt, and I just tested for my brown belt (1st gup).

 

[Greg King]

I guess i should have been more specific.My son has been training for 5 years and attended every single tournament since his white belt and is now a red belt and one more to go for black .Again i am not bragging but his abilities surpass alot of BB's his age(13), At least this is what i am told by his teachers.Iwas just curious if anyone has heard of another person promoting to black in 7-8 months from the last colored senior belt:idunno: it does seem a little fast to me.

 

[Greg King]

Wow.... that's a lot of classes.
With 11 classes and several concerned advanced Black Belts rootin for him and helping him at every turn....sounds like he's got everything a young student could ask for!!
Good for your son!

I don't think this is out of line. With that many hours, plus I'm sure he practices on his own time as well, plus all those upper-students and instructors helping him so much.... He's simply rising to his potential and they see it and are urging him onward.

PROBLEM will be...once he gets it, don't let him think he's DONE. Keep him going. Many (most) consider the Black Belt THE goal. Its not. It's just one more step on the way.

Your Brother
John

His goal is to achieve Master status and open a local school.wish i knew what i wanted to do that early in life.and yes he knows that Blackbelt is just the beginning of his journey

 

[bluemtn]

I think it's a little early, but not terribly so. He's been at it for 5 years, and showing good potential... He'll test at around his 6 year mark? No, really once you break it down, I don't think it's too soon.

 

[IcemanSK]

From red to black in less than a year is totally do-able. 11 classes a week?! And training by the BB's?! I can totally see that with no problem.

Best of luck to him!

 

[Henderson]

If a TKD red belt is more-or-less equivalent to a karate-do brown belt, then I agree with some of the others here that it is entirely possible.

 

[Last Fearner]

Brown or red, the color doesn't really matter - It's the geup (grade level). Some Taekwondo schools use brown for the high belt, some use red. Some use both, with brown before red, and others have red before brown. Also, many schools have a temporary Black Belt stage between color belt and Black Belt (particularly for adults). This level often uses a half brown/half black belt, or a plain black belt with no degree stripe. It is sometimes called "Recommended Black," "Deputy Black," or "Black Belt Candidate." This can last six months to one year. The Poom belt for children often takes the place of this until the child reaches age of majority and can be awarded a 1st Dan.

In any case, on average, the student spends two to three months in the lower grades, four to six months in the higher grades, and usually six months to one year in the final grade before the 1st Dan. A student with prior experience, or an exceptional student might have any of the time periods reduced by a month or two, or skip a grade (color of belt) or two.

The Chief Instructor of the Dojang is the only one who should make this kind of recommendation, and if they are part of a larger organization (which issues the certificate rather than a school certificate), the Kwan Jang would probably need to approve an early promotion to Black Belt.

Overall, the entire time from white belt to First Dan should never, under any circumstances, be less than two and half years (which would include any previous training time at another school). Three to five years is ideal, and it could very well take longer. Keep in mind, a thirteen year old is going for Poom and not a Dan rank (even if your school does not recognize poom, no child at the age of thirteen is fully developed to hold the same level as an adult Black Belt (I'm not particularly fond of the 15 year old limit for Kukkiwon). However, this promotion will give your son time to develop as a poom before maturing in the Art, and in life, to become a full Black Belt Dan at the appropriate age.

My recommendation would be to discuss this with your son, and the Chief Instructor, then come to a sound decision as the parent. I see no problem with the time requirement as you have described.

CM D. J. Eisenhart

 

[AceHBK]

Seems fine to me.

My only concern would be burn out.

 

[Miles]

Five years is an appropriate time. One year from 2nd guep is what I do and at that level, the training gets much tougher and the demand on the student is much greater.

Congratulations on your son being eligible to test. Sounds like he is getting a lot of good training in and you are justifiably proud of him.

I do concur with Ace though=watch out for burn out!

Miles

 

[matt.m]

Oh sorry, If he has five years of experience then it is all good. I have seen too many buy your black belt mc dojos that promote people for the testing fees and the student does not deserve it.

But five years is plenty. Sounds like the teachers did the right thing and promoted him slowly to begin with.

 

[Greg King]

Oh sorry, If he has five years of experience then it is all good. I have seen too many buy your black belt mc dojos that promote people for the testing fees and the student does not deserve it.

But five years is plenty. Sounds like the teachers did the right thing and promoted him slowly to begin with.

A friend of mine has a son that goes to one of those schools ,they promote every eight or nine weeks.Seems schools like that don't care much about teaching the art.My friends son has been in it two years and is going to test for his BB this year.Way too fast in my opinion.