Should BB test be held in a Seedy Dive Bar!
- Thread starter Gorilla
- Start date
drop bear
Sr. Grandmaster
Yes. In fact, I'll go one further and say that guys have to go into the bar wearing a dress......:lfao:
TrueJim
Master Black Belt
It is a fun question...great question too, since it gets at the heart of the whole "what is a Black Belt" thingy from so many other threads. Like I said in the "should kids be black belts" thread: If being able to win a fight in a dive bar is the defining characteristic of a Black Belt, then:
* Most kids probably can't be Black Belts
* But then most old people probably can't either (should old people turn-in their Black Belts past a certain age?)
* Most handicapped probably people can't be Black Belts either (there goes para-taekwondo!)
* Many women, and a lot of shorter/smaller people generally will be less likely to earn a Black Belt
* Conversely: tall, big (or even overweight), young men will probably have an easier time earning a Black Belt
Also...I suspect we're a lot more likely nowadays to meet violence from teen gangs than from bar fights (even in many suburbs, surprisingly). So I propose the bar fight analogy be replaced with the "targeted by four teenage gang members as part of their gang initiation" analogy.
And the bar should be the hangout of any local 1%er motorcycle club... and you have to walk in, in your dress, and insult the club president. Then knock his Harley over.
More seriously -- it all trips back to the simple question of "what does a black belt mean?" If you're going to say that your black belts are the baddest mofos around, yep. Absolutely. In fact, that should be phase one. Phase two should involve a similar sort of insult at the nearest available military spec ops unit's preferred bar. Phase three? Straight into the prison yard.
If, however, your claims are more modest and limited to a certain degree of mastery of the art's syllabus? Nah.
I think the same could also be said about most anything. There are good welders and then there are welders that couldn't weld their way out of a paper bag
drop bear
Sr. Grandmaster
Funny you should mention that. It is end of season footy trip time. Lots of men in dresses.
drop bear
Sr. Grandmaster
We have a youth boxer who is a Queensland champion. May represent us in the next Olympics and is a veteran of 30 plus fights. I would put the kid in a technical level of a black belt.
Jake a real knock-out in Rocky | Whitsunday Times
Heck yes it should be held in a seedy bar and the tester has to but all the rounds of drinks.
At least 8 after a mandatory imbibing of no less than the equivalent of a six-pack of stout or something stronger. And for reality have at least one patron occassionally hurl a bottle at the testee while he/she is performing said poomsae.
dancingalone
Grandmaster
Not a funny reply, but in ancient times I trained at a school with fairly tough standards for bb. The bb candidates had to spar each other and the bottom 1 or 2 had to retest at the next opportunity. Kinda rough IMO. Most of the failees just quit altogether.
punisher73
Senior Master
I know this thread is kind of tongue and cheek, but I have heard of schools that would take their potential BB's into a bar and egg a fight on for their test. This was in the 70's when things like this weren't exactly frowned upon.
Reminds me of my instructor. He has admonished the BB's several times, with statements like "Complancency in training equals an *** kicking in the street". Also, when some BB's were getting cocky, he named one of the local hangouts for a lot of hands-on blue collar workers and said he'd be glad to take them down there and have those guys show them a thing or two about what hard physical labor and a tough attitude will do for you, training or not.
People need to realize that being a BB isn't some magical level that makes you invincible. It also means very different things based on style/school/organization etc. For many, it just means you are ready to really start learning.
Reminds me of my instructor. He has admonished the BB's several times, with statements like "Complancency in training equals an *** kicking in the street". Also, when some BB's were getting cocky, he named one of the local hangouts for a lot of hands-on blue collar workers and said he'd be glad to take them down there and have those guys show them a thing or two about what hard physical labor and a tough attitude will do for you, training or not.
People need to realize that being a BB isn't some magical level that makes you invincible. It also means very different things based on style/school/organization etc. For many, it just means you are ready to really start learning.
oftheherd1
Senior Master
I think that used to be part of the BB test in a lot of schools, at least in Korea, to have to fight two or three current BB holders. Also to create your own kata. I have no idea what the standards are now. I am only going off people I knew who attained BBs in the 60's, both in the US and Korea.
Probably!
