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I'm curious what the board breaking requirements are at each of your schools, and how it's handled.
School 1
The school I attended as a kid only did board breaking for solid belts. We used kicks on 6x12x1 boards for kids or 12x12x1 boards for adults. I distinctly remember side kick and front kick (the later with the ball of the foot). I remember sometimes it took me a few tries to break, but I got through. This was a long time ago and I don't remember all of the details.
School 2
The school I spent the most time at did board breaking for every test, stripe or solid. Beginner levels all just did a hammerfist, but the majority of color belt tests had a specific technique assigned. Some techniques we would wear pads for, such as breaking with the elbow or instep. Little kids would usually start with a demo board (12x12x0.25), bigger kids with a 10x12x0.5, teens with a 10x12x1 and adults with a 12x12x1 board. Sometimes the board would be downgraded if a kid struggled. Black tests would include multiple board breaks in rapid succession, followed by a power break of 2-3 boards. Degree tests would add on speed breaks using the demo boards for tornado kicks and spin hook kicks. You were expected to break the boards, but you got as many tries to do it as you needed.
I remember we needed:
School 3
The school I most recently attended had students do both a hand and foot technique for every test. Some of the upper belts got a choice in which hand or foot technique to use, most belts had specific techniques assigned. They only used demo boards. If you broke your board on the first try, you got a "Best Breaking" patch. If you didn't, you still needed to break your board to pass. I would say less than half of the students got a Best Breaking patch each test, even on the super-thin paulwania boards, part of why I questioned that school.
Some of the techniques were not actually taught before they had to test on it. For example, white belts with stripe had to break with an axe kick, which was taught at yellow belt. I also remember a black belt that had never done a 360 back kick before, which was expected on her testing.
My Future Plans
I don't have a solid plan yet. The rest of my curriculum flows that the beginner belts (white through orange) mostly just follow directions, where the advanced level (green through red) is where most of the memorization happens. Black belts then open up into a more modern "move-of-the-day" approach and get opportunities to be creative in their training. I think it follows that I would then have specific board breaks until around the black belt test, when I would open it up. But I'm not sure.
Your school(s)?
What does your school have?
School 1
The school I attended as a kid only did board breaking for solid belts. We used kicks on 6x12x1 boards for kids or 12x12x1 boards for adults. I distinctly remember side kick and front kick (the later with the ball of the foot). I remember sometimes it took me a few tries to break, but I got through. This was a long time ago and I don't remember all of the details.
School 2
The school I spent the most time at did board breaking for every test, stripe or solid. Beginner levels all just did a hammerfist, but the majority of color belt tests had a specific technique assigned. Some techniques we would wear pads for, such as breaking with the elbow or instep. Little kids would usually start with a demo board (12x12x0.25), bigger kids with a 10x12x0.5, teens with a 10x12x1 and adults with a 12x12x1 board. Sometimes the board would be downgraded if a kid struggled. Black tests would include multiple board breaks in rapid succession, followed by a power break of 2-3 boards. Degree tests would add on speed breaks using the demo boards for tornado kicks and spin hook kicks. You were expected to break the boards, but you got as many tries to do it as you needed.
I remember we needed:
- White through orange belt: hammerfist
- Green and green stripe: step-behind side kick
- Blue and blue stripe: back kick
- Blue 2-stripe: elbow strike (with arm pad)
- Red: axe kick
- Red stripe: spin hook kick
- Black belt test: 4-direction breaking and power hammerfist
- 1st degree "gup" tests: power hammerfist
- 2nd Degree test: 4-direction breaking, speed break with consecutive tornado kicks, power hammerfist
- 2nd Degree "gup" tests: power chop
- 3rd Degree test: 4-direction breaking, speed break with consecutive tornado kicks into jump spin hook kick, power hammerfist
- 3rd Degree "gup" tests: "Eh, you've broken enough boards already."
School 3
The school I most recently attended had students do both a hand and foot technique for every test. Some of the upper belts got a choice in which hand or foot technique to use, most belts had specific techniques assigned. They only used demo boards. If you broke your board on the first try, you got a "Best Breaking" patch. If you didn't, you still needed to break your board to pass. I would say less than half of the students got a Best Breaking patch each test, even on the super-thin paulwania boards, part of why I questioned that school.
Some of the techniques were not actually taught before they had to test on it. For example, white belts with stripe had to break with an axe kick, which was taught at yellow belt. I also remember a black belt that had never done a 360 back kick before, which was expected on her testing.
My Future Plans
I don't have a solid plan yet. The rest of my curriculum flows that the beginner belts (white through orange) mostly just follow directions, where the advanced level (green through red) is where most of the memorization happens. Black belts then open up into a more modern "move-of-the-day" approach and get opportunities to be creative in their training. I think it follows that I would then have specific board breaks until around the black belt test, when I would open it up. But I'm not sure.
Your school(s)?
What does your school have?
- Are there board breaks every test, or only at specific levels?
- What is the assignment when breaking boards? Is there a specific technique? Do they have to do multiple techniques? Is there a list to choose from?
- What are the expectations? Do they need to break it first try? What if they've failed after several attempts?
- Do you use pads?
- What size boards do you use? Do you use demo boards at all in testing?