Certification acceptance

[troubleenuf]

How many of you accept a student as black belt regardless of certification?
Have you ever had a Kukkiwon black belt come to your gym that you have not accepted as a black belt?

Personally I give every black belt that comes to my gym two weeks of training to see were they are at, regardless of certification. I just had two students this fall who joined my college classes who were Kukkiwon certified that after two weeks I sat down with them and we decided together that they would be more successful at Blue belt (and that was a challenge for them). I have another red belt that wants to keep her rank (She is about yellow belt level) that I dont see her testing in my organization for a LONG time.

 

[terryl965]

Well the thing you and alot of folks need to remember if they have a KKW certification and has competed in tournaments they must always compete as a BB. Now with that being said I have never taken a BB away from anybody but I have ask them to go back and learn everything and clean up what they have wrong, some like it and others get offended. I personally doe not care one way or the other, it is simply my school, so it will be this way. Kinda rugh I know but I see so many that believe sport sparring is all there is to TKD KKW style that it is bad.

 

[Earl Weiss]

This touches on a bigger issue.

Students come in with whatever rank.

Responsible instructors wonder what the heck standards were used to award that rank.

We coddle the students by letting them wear their belt but sneding them down to th appropriate rank group. All the while trying not to burst their bubble and not really saying anything bad about where they came from or their instructor who is the one really deserving of the criticism.

By failing to be critical of the instructor are we helping perpetuate messed up schools?

 

[puunui]

How many of you accept a student as black belt regardless of certification?

I do.

Have you ever had a Kukkiwon black belt come to your gym that you have not accepted as a black belt?

No.

 

[andyjeffries]

How many of you accept a student as black belt regardless of certification?

We do. I guess we'd ask to see their KKW certificate if they blatently weren't up to scratch, but so far that hasn't happened.

Have you ever had a Kukkiwon black belt come to your gym that you have not accepted as a black belt?

Nope. Been lucky I guess...

 

[Tony49]

How many of you accept a student as black belt regardless of certification?
Have you ever had a Kukkiwon black belt come to your gym that you have not accepted as a black belt?.

We accept all black belts who have a certificate. We will even sometimes call their instructor if not local. I look at it this way someone was willing to put their name/reputation on this certificate therefore I will honor it. However, I will typical have them were there old uniform/belt so people will know that person is not a BB under us. I then try to get them up to speed so that when the test for their next BB they are at our standards.

The one Kukkiwon Black Belt who came to us had good technique and could fight Olympic style. However, INMHO he did not have a Black Belt Attitude of never give up or the ability to turn his switch on (fight/flight response). I had an Eskrima instructor showing him weapons and he acted scared. I then had one of Kenpo/tkd guys sparing with him and continued to run away. He wasn't use to an onslaught of punches and kicks to the head/body. On the other note, if I bounce in front of him and just attack in and out he did great but when we put the pressure on he was at a lost. Just to let you know I don't see this as only being KKW problem. We have the same problem with some our students which we keep trying to get that tiger out of them. I see this to be more of Soccer Mom type problem.

 

[ralphmcpherson]

We have them do a couple of classes to see where they are at. The highest rank our GM will skip them to is 4th gup. This gives them time to learn our forms, self defence, sparring etc before grading to black belt. There has been only one exception I know of and that was a very good kick boxer who is married to one of our female instructors and therefore knows our forms and other bits and pieces. The GM put him to first gup and said he can test for black belt in 6 months if he is up to it.

 

[Mark Jordan]

I agree with what you said that you give every black belt that comes to your gym two weeks of training to see were they are at, regardless of certification. However, you should explain to them the reason why you are requiring such because for sure some of them will get offended. And hopefully, this explanation will widen their perspective and help them understand where you are coming from.

 

[ralphmcpherson]

I agree with what you said that you give every black belt that comes to your gym two weeks of training to see were they are at, regardless of certification. However, you should explain to them the reason why you are requiring such because for sure some of them will get offended. And hopefully, this explanation will widen their perspective and help them understand where you are coming from.

I agree, and it is explained to them. We had a kukki bb start recently and had to start at 4th gup. Our instructor (7th dan) said to him, "even with 36 years training under my belt, if I came and joined your old club I would not expect to wear a black belt as its a different system". We expect our black belts to spend a lot of time working with coloured belts teaching forms etc and its really not fair to go and stick a black belt on someone who doesnt know the curriculum and any students Ive seen come over are more than happy not to wear a black belt until they feel competent in what's being taught. I agree with you though, it has to be explained to them correctly so they dont get offended.