Old Fat Kenpoka
Master Black Belt
Belt tests: are they necessary?
Are belt tests necessary to determine proficiency?
Should a belt test push a student to their physical limits?
Should a belt test be an opportunity for a student to perform a demonstration?
Or, are they unnecessary.
What types of tests have you seen, what types of tests (if any) would you like to see implemented in your school/association?
Most martial artists believe that Belt rank is an important indicator of skill and knowledge. Belt testing varies widely from school to school. Here are some of the extremes and in-betweens I’ve seen.
The Black Belt test at my nephew’s TKD school is a 24-hour test. The 24-hour test included a grueling uphill run, hundreds of sit-ups, pushups, calisthenics, basics, breaking, forms, sparring, and very little sleep. The belts are awarded at a ceremony a couple of weeks later. Well, the ceremony was something else. They held the awards ceremony at a local high-school gym. Families and friends were invited. It was 3-hours. Speeches, live music, kata demonstrations, weapons demonstrations, breaking, a parade of TKD and other Martial Arts seniors, testimonials, etc. At the end, with music playing, the families were invited to stand behind the black belt candidates while the instructors handed out the Black Belts. Wow.
At many other schools, there is a group test lasting anywhere from one to six hours with belts awarded on the spot or within the next week. These tests may be public or private.
At the Kenpo school I trained at, every student received a weekly private lesson and belt tests were private.
One week or more before the test, the student would get a private lesson from another higher-ranking instructor to determine their readiness and provide feedback to the student and their regular instructor. If the student was ready, a test was scheduled. All tests were private.
The lower belt tests were about ½ hour long. The student, their uke, the instructor, and 1 – 3 Black Belts (depending on the students’ rank) attended. Students demonstrated basics, techniques and kata, then performed techniques on their uke and sparred with the uke or their instructor. At the end of the test, the student and uke were left kneeling for five or ten minutes while the instructor and testing board went into the office to discuss the students progress/performance and to sign the certificate and grab the belt. The belt was awarded on the spot, the student was congratulated and emerged from the test with new belt about the waist, certificate in one hand and old belt in the other. Students rarely failed tests – if they weren’t ready, the instructor should not have tested them. An instructor would get a major chew-out if he tried to test a student that was not ready. In 15 years of teaching at this school, I only had one student fail a test. He forgot one technique and started cussing at himself. The head instructor stopped the test. We worked on the student’s composure for a couple weeks, then he tested fine.
Brown and Black Belt tests were also private. They were longer—about 2 hours. We usually did these in the afternoon or late evening when the school was closed. There was a fixed sequence to the test. The testing panel could ask to see more material if they had any concerns, wanted to push the student, wanted to see a good show, or just wanted to see the ukes get pounded. Again, belts were awarded after the test. Beer and Pizza with the ukes and testing panel usually followed. Again, you wouldn’t dare bring a student into a brown belt test if there was a risk of failure. Students did fail brown belt tests, but it was usually because they failed to execute a technique and got nailed by their uke.
The Jiu-Jitsu school where I train now has a reputation for being extremely conservative on promotions. There was a thread on a Jiu-Jitsu forum where half the respondents named this instructor as the most difficult promotion requirements out of all the schools in the country. Surprisingly, there are no belt tests! People’s skills are readily apparent when you drill and spar with them. Belts are awarded by surprise in the middle of class. After the award, a line forms to shake hands and congratulate the students, and then there is a “belt-whipping” where the student runs a gauntlet through the class.
My current opinion is that tests are unnecessary. Promotions should be the reward for skills and behaviors demonstrated every day, not on a one-time performance.
As far as the after promotion congratulations method, that is already the subject of another thread...
Are belt tests necessary to determine proficiency?
Should a belt test push a student to their physical limits?
Should a belt test be an opportunity for a student to perform a demonstration?
Or, are they unnecessary.
What types of tests have you seen, what types of tests (if any) would you like to see implemented in your school/association?
Most martial artists believe that Belt rank is an important indicator of skill and knowledge. Belt testing varies widely from school to school. Here are some of the extremes and in-betweens I’ve seen.
The Black Belt test at my nephew’s TKD school is a 24-hour test. The 24-hour test included a grueling uphill run, hundreds of sit-ups, pushups, calisthenics, basics, breaking, forms, sparring, and very little sleep. The belts are awarded at a ceremony a couple of weeks later. Well, the ceremony was something else. They held the awards ceremony at a local high-school gym. Families and friends were invited. It was 3-hours. Speeches, live music, kata demonstrations, weapons demonstrations, breaking, a parade of TKD and other Martial Arts seniors, testimonials, etc. At the end, with music playing, the families were invited to stand behind the black belt candidates while the instructors handed out the Black Belts. Wow.
At many other schools, there is a group test lasting anywhere from one to six hours with belts awarded on the spot or within the next week. These tests may be public or private.
At the Kenpo school I trained at, every student received a weekly private lesson and belt tests were private.
One week or more before the test, the student would get a private lesson from another higher-ranking instructor to determine their readiness and provide feedback to the student and their regular instructor. If the student was ready, a test was scheduled. All tests were private.
The lower belt tests were about ½ hour long. The student, their uke, the instructor, and 1 – 3 Black Belts (depending on the students’ rank) attended. Students demonstrated basics, techniques and kata, then performed techniques on their uke and sparred with the uke or their instructor. At the end of the test, the student and uke were left kneeling for five or ten minutes while the instructor and testing board went into the office to discuss the students progress/performance and to sign the certificate and grab the belt. The belt was awarded on the spot, the student was congratulated and emerged from the test with new belt about the waist, certificate in one hand and old belt in the other. Students rarely failed tests – if they weren’t ready, the instructor should not have tested them. An instructor would get a major chew-out if he tried to test a student that was not ready. In 15 years of teaching at this school, I only had one student fail a test. He forgot one technique and started cussing at himself. The head instructor stopped the test. We worked on the student’s composure for a couple weeks, then he tested fine.
Brown and Black Belt tests were also private. They were longer—about 2 hours. We usually did these in the afternoon or late evening when the school was closed. There was a fixed sequence to the test. The testing panel could ask to see more material if they had any concerns, wanted to push the student, wanted to see a good show, or just wanted to see the ukes get pounded. Again, belts were awarded after the test. Beer and Pizza with the ukes and testing panel usually followed. Again, you wouldn’t dare bring a student into a brown belt test if there was a risk of failure. Students did fail brown belt tests, but it was usually because they failed to execute a technique and got nailed by their uke.
The Jiu-Jitsu school where I train now has a reputation for being extremely conservative on promotions. There was a thread on a Jiu-Jitsu forum where half the respondents named this instructor as the most difficult promotion requirements out of all the schools in the country. Surprisingly, there are no belt tests! People’s skills are readily apparent when you drill and spar with them. Belts are awarded by surprise in the middle of class. After the award, a line forms to shake hands and congratulate the students, and then there is a “belt-whipping” where the student runs a gauntlet through the class.
My current opinion is that tests are unnecessary. Promotions should be the reward for skills and behaviors demonstrated every day, not on a one-time performance.
As far as the after promotion congratulations method, that is already the subject of another thread...