5 year old black belts?

[Miles]

I've never had a student earn a poom at age 5. I generally don't teach anyone any younger than 5.

My current active black belt's average age is 43 and that's because we have a 35 yr old "young-in."

 

[Kwanjang]

Some of the students on your website looked like they were wearing black belts and they looked pretty young. Were they? And if so how old were they?

I have had some students that started when they were four and five and stayed with till black. Their total time in grade; 4-5 years They are 10-12 years old and they are smaller than normal. I also beleive these young BB are the exception,(naturaly gifted) they are very dedicated. They've just recently received their BBts. Because of rules of our assoc. their rank will start to stall till they reach a certain age. I will have to post some videos of them doing their stuff! They work hard for me and currently they are not doing other sports--just TKD.

 

[celtic_crippler]

A "black belt" in what exactly?

We don't even take students under the age of 8.

This kind of garbage only cheapens martial arts and is mostly repsonsible for the lack of respect from the general public.

 

[Kwanjang]

A "black belt" in what exactly?

We don't even take students under the age of 8.

This kind of garbage only cheapens martial arts and is mostly repsonsible for the lack of respect from the general public.

:soapbox:
1. Black belt In their chosen art of TKD of coarse. 2. As a teacher of 18 years, I beleive you are horribly wrong and mis-informed. I have been teaching children at 4, 5, and 6 and 7, sucessfully for many years. (do some kids get it? YES, do Others? NO) To make a such a general statement is, I beleive, narrow minded and, an insult to those who understand and sucessfully teach MA to children every day. Starting at the age of 4 kids can be taught basic mechanics and futhermore they learn many other vaulable things. Wouldn't you conceed that "learning" is a part of life that is never ending? Then why not start young! I am no push over--My young students who are blackbelts endured a rigourous test, with the adults. They were able to demnstrate the curriculum. Can they beat up a grown-up man...of coarse not. ( I can't beleve you would dis-respect kids you have never seen in action! ) I don't know what kind of garbage you are speaking of. And far as the public respect- We do many demonstrations with our young talented Black belts, they are ALWAYS crowd pleasers with their command of thier art.. they got it through "PRACTICE AND COMMITMENT AND BY AN ISTRUCTOR WHO CARES BECAUSE MY REPUTATION IS ON THE LINE". (some rare kids are just as focused as some of the adults I've instructed over the years.) If your school doen't take them till 8, No prob. Don't slam on people with your truculent dogmatic view-- who are trying AND making a difference. You have never witnessed one of my classes, You have know idea what I teach, and the manner and
method in which I teach it. Kids learn other activities all the time. None better than martial arts to prepare and help them with balance, eye-hand coordination,respect, SHOULD I GO ON? or, are you that narrow minded. You are indeed entitled to your opinion. :asian:

 

[Kwanjang]

By the way, we don't have any 5 year old black belts, and never will. However, it is a great age to start! :whip1:

 

[tko4u]

A "black belt" in what exactly?

We don't even take students under the age of 8.

This kind of garbage only cheapens martial arts and is mostly repsonsible for the lack of respect from the general public.

The only lack of respect that I see is in your attitude sir!

What age you take students is your business, but I have personally trained 5 and 6 year olds who have more focus than some 14 year olds. I think it is GREAT if youths want to start martial arts, I wish I had started then!

 

[arnisador]

What age you take students is your business, but I have personally trained 5 and 6 year olds who have more focus than some 14 year olds.

That has to be a very rare occurrence.

I think it is GREAT if youths want to start martial arts, I wish I had started then!

I agree...but giving them black belts at that age is pretty silly, in my opinion.

 

[tko4u]

That has to be a very rare occurrence.



I agree...but giving them black belts at that age is pretty silly, in my opinion.

No no, not black belts at that age, I have trained with gups at that age. And there are some problem children in class, but for the most part, the kids just want to learn tkd, burn off some energy and kick the wavemaster! I see no problem with having 5-8yr old students.

 

[Kwanjang]

I think some people are missing the point of starting young. Once again, I do not condone the rank of blabk belt at 5, 6, 7,or 8. You have to conceed there are other values and benifits being taught martial arts at a young age. Now its not for every child. Martial art training helps develop the three domains of the brain. The cognitive, the affective, and the phyco-motor. This is the right age to get children envoled in a quality martial arts program. An early start on the Aforementioned developmental areas--can only benifit the child.

 

[jim777]

I think some people are missing the point of starting young. Once again, I do not condone the rank of black belt at 5, 6, 7,or 8. You have to concede there are other values and benefits being taught martial arts at a young age. Now its not for every child. Martial art training helps develop the three domains of the brain. The cognitive, the affective, and the phyco-motor. This is the right age to get children involved in a quality martial arts program. An early start on the Aforementioned developmental areas--can only benefit the child.

I totally agree. No 6 year old BBs, but I'd like to see a lot more 6 year olds starting. It takes a long time to get to 9th Dan, right?
Seriously though, I started at 45 and can only hope to get to 3rd Dan someday before I'm too old to go any further. We have a 4th Dan at our school who is 32 or so, who started at 5, and he is not only an outstanding artist but a great teacher due to his life long involvement.
Start 'em young!

 

[celtic_crippler]

:soapbox:
1. Black belt In their chosen art of TKD of coarse. 2. As a teacher of 18 years, I beleive you are horribly wrong and mis-informed. I have been teaching children at 4, 5, and 6 and 7, sucessfully for many years. (do some kids get it? YES, do Others? NO) To make a such a general statement is, I beleive, narrow minded and, an insult to those who understand and sucessfully teach MA to children every day. Starting at the age of 4 kids can be taught basic mechanics and futhermore they learn many other vaulable things. Wouldn't you conceed that "learning" is a part of life that is never ending? Then why not start young! I am no push over--My young students who are blackbelts endured a rigourous test, with the adults. They were able to demnstrate the curriculum. Can they beat up a grown-up man...of coarse not. ( I can't beleve you would dis-respect kids you have never seen in action! ) I don't know what kind of garbage you are speaking of. And far as the public respect- We do many demonstrations with our young talented Black belts, they are ALWAYS crowd pleasers with their command of thier art.. they got it through "PRACTICE AND COMMITMENT AND BY AN ISTRUCTOR WHO CARES BECAUSE MY REPUTATION IS ON THE LINE". (some rare kids are just as focused as some of the adults I've instructed over the years.) If your school doen't take them till 8, No prob. Don't slam on people with your truculent dogmatic view-- who are trying AND making a difference. You have never witnessed one of my classes, You have know idea what I teach, and the manner and
method in which I teach it. Kids learn other activities all the time. None better than martial arts to prepare and help them with balance, eye-hand coordination,respect, SHOULD I GO ON? or, are you that narrow minded. You are indeed entitled to your opinion. :asian:

The only lack of respect that I see is in your attitude sir!

What age you take students is your business, but I have personally trained 5 and 6 year olds who have more focus than some 14 year olds. I think it is GREAT if youths want to start martial arts, I wish I had started then!

That has to be a very rare occurrence.



I agree...but giving them black belts at that age is pretty silly, in my opinion.

You should thank me because in most cases we refer all children brought to our school under age 8 to the local TKD school.

I think you misunderstood me. I never said teaching a child was garbage. They can learn better coordination and mechanics starting out at 4 or 5 by attending a martial arts school.

What I said was garbage and what cheapens the arts as a whole were 5 year olds running around with black belts on.

Whether you want to admit it or not, awarding little kids black belts drastically contributes to the general publics lack of respect for martial arts. A black belt used to denote the level of expert. And experts...in anything....are very rarely children.

 

[Traditionalist]

I was wondering at what age is your youngest black belt in your schools? And are they junior black belts or what?

 

[Kwanjang]

You should thank me because in most cases we refer all children brought to our school under age 8 to the local TKD school.

I think you misunderstood me. I never said teaching a child was garbage. They can learn better coordination and mechanics starting out at 4 or 5 by attending a martial arts school.

What I said was garbage and what cheapens the arts as a whole were 5 year olds running around with black belts on.

Whether you want to admit it or not, awarding little kids black belts drastically contributes to the general publics lack of respect for martial arts. A black belt used to denote the level of expert. And experts...in anything....are very rarely children.

That , I would agrre with! Maybe i no understand -Now I see what you are saying. (respectful bow) :asian:

 

[tko4u]

You should thank me because in most cases we refer all children brought to our school under age 8 to the local TKD school.

I think you misunderstood me. I never said teaching a child was garbage. They can learn better coordination and mechanics starting out at 4 or 5 by attending a martial arts school.

What I said was garbage and what cheapens the arts as a whole were 5 year olds running around with black belts on.

Whether you want to admit it or not, awarding little kids black belts drastically contributes to the general publics lack of respect for martial arts. A black belt used to denote the level of expert. And experts...in anything....are very rarely children.

Agreed!

 

[terryl965]

I was wondering at what age is your youngest black belt in your schools? And are they junior black belts or what?

My youngest Junior BB was my son he was going on 9 years old and has been in a Dojaang for 7 of those years. He has learned everything that a child can learn there is no second or up for him when he turns 15 he will be given the same test as my adults and teenagers if he passes then he will be awarded his first Dan rank until then it is about training and having fun competing.

 

[terryl965]

You should thank me because in most cases we refer all children brought to our school under age 8 to the local TKD school.

I think you misunderstood me. I never said teaching a child was garbage. They can learn better coordination and mechanics starting out at 4 or 5 by attending a martial arts school.

What I said was garbage and what cheapens the arts as a whole were 5 year olds running around with black belts on.

Whether you want to admit it or not, awarding little kids black belts drastically contributes to the general publics lack of respect for martial arts. A black belt used to denote the level of expert. And experts...in anything....are very rarely children.

Absolutely agree with the above statement.

 

[Laurentkd]

My youngest Junior BB was my son he was going on 9 years old and has been in a Dojaang for 7 of those years. He has learned everything that a child can learn there is no second or up for him when he turns 15 he will be given the same test as my adults and teenagers if he passes then he will be awarded his first Dan rank until then it is about training and having fun competing.

I have a question for you... how do you deal with students who receive their second degree before your son, even though he has been a first degree longer.
For example, we have a 15 year old at our dojang who is a 2nd degree (has been for a year) and he can not test for 3rd until he is 18. There are students who received their 2nd dan after him, but who will be able to test for 3rd before him due to this age restriction. At that point those students who were once his juniors will now be his seniors. I don't really see any way around this, but at the same time it doesn't seem quite right this way either. What do you think?

 

[Cirdan]

I have a question for you... how do you deal with students who receive their second degree before your son, even though he has been a first degree longer.
For example, we have a 15 year old at our dojang who is a 2nd degree (has been for a year) and he can not test for 3rd until he is 18. There are students who received their 2nd dan after him, but who will be able to test for 3rd before him due to this age restriction. At that point those students who were once his juniors will now be his seniors. I don't really see any way around this, but at the same time it doesn't seem quite right this way either. What do you think?

I think it is a little strange that you assume all of them will be ready to grade for 3rd dan in the minimum time..

People that reach an as advanced level as this tend to progress at different paces anyway and the last thing on their minds should whining about the progress of others.

 

[terryl965]

I have a question for you... how do you deal with students who receive their second degree before your son, even though he has been a first degree longer.
For example, we have a 15 year old at our dojang who is a 2nd degree (has been for a year) and he can not test for 3rd until he is 18. There are students who received their 2nd dan after him, but who will be able to test for 3rd before him due to this age restriction. At that point those students who were once his juniors will now be his seniors. I don't really see any way around this, but at the same time it doesn't seem quite right this way either. What do you think?

It is easy for me since I run a program for the kids and one for the adults and the material is not the same as Self Defense goes, so I just tell them they where a Junior BB and now they have beeen promoted to the Adult ranks.

 

[Laurentkd]

I think it is a little strange that you assume all of them will be ready to grade for 3rd dan in the minimum time..

People that reach an as advanced level as this tend to progress at different paces anyway and the last thing on their minds should whining about the progress of others.

Good point. I am probably worrying about something that may never happen!