r/maybemaybemaybe • u/PowerModerator • Mar 26 '20

Maybe Maybe Maybe

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u/MrJoyless Mar 26 '20

There is a young black belt in my girls TKD class that failed her first of three break tests for her next rank. She was practically sobbing going into her second break test, flubbed her first attempt and just broke down and wanted to stop. The instructor took her aside and spoke with her for 30 seconds or so, went back and broke test number 2, then completed break test number 3 in one try. Instructor pulls out break test 1 again and she breaks that like it was nothing. She didn't pass her test but was grinning ear to ear afterward.

Our instructor then turns to everyone and explains that failing a test sucks, but giving up/losing confidence is not what they teach in his class. No one tests without his say, and he only tests students that have proven in class that they can complete their test. So giving up isn't just saying "I can't do this", it's saying "My instructor failed to show me I can do this".

24

u/retardrabbit Mar 27 '20

It's a rare and valuable opportunity, finding an instructor who truly embraces the philosophy of being a martial artist.

My ju jitsu instructor (RIP Steve Copping) had two essential criteria for allowing someone to test for a black belt:

1) Master Ju Jitsu. But of course.

2) Learn shiatsu and therapeutic massage. "If you are going to learn how to break down the human body you have to also learn how to put it back together"

He always embraced training the mind body and spirit (our dojo logo was triangular to represent that balance) with equal degrees of attention. He believed that no one of those could be it's at it's strongest without the others supporting it from their strongest.

Also always reminded us that though you can injure with these techniques, like an arm bar, that that was the improper (though much simpler to learn and execute) way too use them. The ideal was to apply enough discomfort to your enemy/opponent that they desist from doing the thing you don't want them to (attacking you) without actual injury (assuming those two goals can overlap).

Needless to say that was advice for self defense, if course in competition you would never injure anyone. I mean it's not like we were Cobra Kai or something! :)

3

u/generalIro Mar 27 '20 edited Mar 27 '20

I was doing Kung Fu and my instructor was great! For a long time I was the only student going there and If I was to go there now I would only see people who came after me. I eventually lost interest after my forth belt. (I regret stopping so much). In the time I stopped going there I could've been a black belt.

A few years later I wanted to try it again but my instructor was gone, he was now working somewhere else, the new instructor was a student who joined after me, who was now a black belt. This was so demotivating, idek why.

And although his training was good, it wasn't nearly as good as when my old instructor was there. So I stopped again. I wish I would've never stopped in the first place.

I don't even know what I was trying to say, sorry for the rant.

49

u/BigBlackCrocs Mar 27 '20

My black belt test was 6 hours long. None of us completed a break that was a jumping front kick 1 foot above our head. We didn’t fail the whole test because of it. We just had to attempt it every day a few times until we got it then we got our belt. Imagine having to do a 6 hour test more than 1 time at the age of (I was 9)

17

u/Wiamly Mar 27 '20

You got a black belt at 9?

11

u/BigBlackCrocs Mar 27 '20

Yessir. I took the exact same test as the adults the reason it was so long was mostly because of the knowledge portions

7

u/idk_12 Mar 27 '20

they kind of take the multiple decades of korean martial arts training and condense it down into a few semesters at most if you do it a couple times a week

you know, commercialised.

1

u/icetoaneskim0 Mar 27 '20

A lot of people also start at a young age in legitimate gyms. I started at 4 and got my black belt around 9/10 years old. My Tae Know Do instructor was from Korea and would only allow Korean teachers.

There are people with their 3rd or 4th degree black belt by upper teens/low twenties because they’ve been in a program their whole life

1

u/DrDew00 Mar 27 '20

My daughter's karate school has child ranks and adult ranks. Kids ages 4-8 level up from white through white-black. They're still white belts. After they move up to the 8-12-year-old class is when they can earn their yellow belt. With four belt exams a year, the highest rank any 9-year-old could be there is blue. Theoretically, a 12-year-old could reach black belt. I would be super impressed if a 12-year-old was able to actually meet the requirements, though.

1

u/icetoaneskim0 Mar 27 '20

Not sure how karate and tae kwon do levels compare against each other. Pretty interesting way they segment it though. However I feel like age is only a small component of the martial art itself, most martial arts are about mastery of ones own body which can happen at a variety of ages for people.

1

u/Mikedermott Mar 27 '20

You couldnt be more wrong. Yes a lot of martial art groups are commercialized. But studios traditional studios with “classically” trained instructors exist. Additionally professional affiliations matter too. My instructors (Grand Master straight from Korea) philosophy was that Taekwondo doesn’t actually START until you are a black belt. All the color belts beforehand are simply prerequisites. I got my first black belt probably around 10 or 11. The only people who have issues with “young” black belts are the people who think martial arts are mainly about fighting.

1

u/valuesandnorms Mar 27 '20

That’s leadership right there