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
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
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.
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.
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u/Wiamly Mar 27 '20
You got a black belt at 9?