I've never heard of the time between belt grades being measured in hours before it was just always a minimum of 3 months between kyus and 6 months from 3rd kyu to 1st dan then the ammount of years for each dan. Edit: Even though this is the minimum time grade it doesnt mean right ok its 3 months go grade. If your ready your ready if not you wait it doesnt matter. Doing the maths if you did 4 hours a week having to have 20 hrs to grade thats 4 weeks between gradings? correct me if im wrong. that seems a pretty low time period elapsed between gradings. Another thing that strikes me is this focus on hours, yes granted you may put the minimum time in to be able to grade but having done the hours does not mean knowing it. Take note of what xoxi said its important and correct.
I took note of what he said shikkari. Actually those minimum hour requirements are in our Grading syllabus. I just based it on them. In fact, I got my first belt- red- after only 18 hours of training. And there are some ppl in our dojo that only do one or two hours a week of training. You can always see who the dedicated ppl are because they appear virtually every aviable hour for karate. The thing is, I did notice my own struggles while training but I also noticed that that guy didn't really care too much if he got the things right or not. In fact, it seems to me he took it as a confidence boost because then it didn't matter whether he actually knew the stuff. Like I said, I asked him once about the lower belt katas (which I had to do for my belt)and he outright refused to show them. If he knew them why did he have a problem showing them to me ? Christian
Ok as i remember you saying this guy has left. You are happy with your club and like the people there. So why in the hell does this still matter to you?? Worry about yourself, your training and your progression. So what if he wouldnt show you a kata hes gone, quit, couldnt hack it. He may have ran through his belts whilst you walked and for whatever reason. Next time your in the dojo look around yourself your still there, wheres he?? Sitting in a pub bragging about the fact that his hands are registered with the police as armed weapons :woo:. Focus.
An amusing and interesting thread. I spent many years going through the usual route of grading every three months, or six months for higher Kyu grades. I now think that this is wrong, and if someone is capable of taking grades, then they should be allowed to take them. Obviously there is a commercial element to all of this. Allowing only one grade to be taken does give the instructor some financial stability in knowing roughly how many students will be training during the next three months. Ten students training 20 hours at £4.00 per hour...£800 in the bank, plus grading fees etc. I have 32 years experience, graded to 5th Dan, but if I take up another art, such as Tae Kwon Do, I would start again at white belt and only take one grade at a time. More income for the instructor I guess. This helped me to take up Filipino Martial Arts, because in general, if you can do it, then you can take the grades. I have see skilled students take up to 5 grades in one session. This is a fairer method and avoids the humiliation of senior grades by a more junior, but more skilled colleague. Best regards Peter Lewis 5th Dan www.yuli-romo.com www.bakbakan.com
Actually, shikkari it no longer really matters to me. I'll see how I do at my next grading-this saturday-and I'll see how I feel after it about this whole thing. But Yes, he is gone and it no longer matters what belt he has and what belt I have. I can feel my own progress. I know all the stuff for the belts I've earned and know that when I pass the next grading I did because I know the requirements. I'm not 100 % perfect in the things but I can improve that during all the next lessons. You know there is another thread on here on "Martial Arts and arrogance" and to be honest, I guess I can only say he would fit that category perfectly. And the double-double grading made him just the more arrogant and more of a jerk. I just hope his arrogance won't trip him up once when he starts a fight for no reason (like he nearly did some months ago). Christian
why is it so hard to believe that he might just be better than you, that he might have deserved to double grade, that there is no conspiracy,
Simple reason: I knew the guy personally ! And he certainly wasn't "better" than me, he was just more fit and flexible, so he had an advantage there. And if you want to point out people better than me, I can at least tell you two more ppl from my dojo that have my belt and should have double-graded because I think they're better than me and have put in alot of effort too: Mark (who is a really good fighter) and Helena (who is incredibly flexible and fit as well). Just so you understand that this concern wasn't only about me. It had to do with all of us. Christian
you're a relative beginner, who are you to judge this guys ability, I seriously doubt you understand all the subtleties of karate yet,
Well, yes I'm a beginner and so was this guy and I can certainly see the differences in how he did the stuff and I did. Like I said, there were two other ppl, who were probably just as good as he was (if you want to put it that way)and they didn't end up with a double-grading either. Irrespective of if I should have received it or not. Christian
As my head instructor says, sometimes he puts forward students for grading because they need a bit of a push forwards and sometimes he holds you back when you're not ready to grade. He is your instructor and he has the right to push students forward or deny grading to others so please remember this and forget about the other bloke. What is now important is your own training and attitude. Remember Rome wasn't built in a day and it takes time to get perfection in technique! In the meantime work on those basics an get it all really sharp. As you advance higher you'll understand when you observe different students and how they work. The lower ranks will appear eager but less effective in their technique and are usually a bit vague in stances and look abit wobbly and ineffective in technique. The mid ranks are looking a bit more polished but are still a bit wobbly at times. The higher ranks look prepared for anything and are highly polished and effective with fantastic stances and are expert in their execution of everything. Train as if you ARE the next rank then that is how you will appear to everyone else. Lift your expectations of your own training. Good luck!
I don't have a problem with double grading, it can serve a useful purpose. If a person shows he or she is avanced enough or has previous experiance then they should be advanced to the appropriate level. For example when I was a lot younger, many years ago, I went for my first grading. I had worked hard and was double graded (by the late Sensei Enoeda). Then again on my second grading. I felt this reflected the amount of effort I had put into my training. From then on I progressed normally through the belts. Years later on my return to karate I started as a white belt but my sensei was aware of my previous experiance and having accessed my competance on my first grading I was triple graded by the head of the association (asked if I wanted to try for the next belt too but was too tired). On the following grading I was again double graded. Since then I have graded normally.
i think theres nothing wrong with double grading exept in one case in my ****o-ryu dojo a girl was double graded three times in a row
And, did that make you wonder if something was going on or did you accept it ? By the way, I heard the rumour going around in our dojo that the guy, who double graded twice in our dojo got kicked out because he started behaving really obnoxiously the moment I went on vacation. Bit of an irony. Christian
It happened in our dojo. At lower ranks, there are people who are just learning very fast, or people with high rank from other styles. Although they start from white, they do learn way faster so I have nothing against this double grading thing
Some people practise once a week, some daily. So some people manage to receive their shodan after 3 or 4 years of training, some after 10 years. If you are ready, just do the examination. If you fail, try again. If you succeed, you earn it. Simple, I think..
In early days, there were only white and black belt. Some people got their black belt fast, some slower. So if you have more steps in between with colored belts, it would be logic for some people to do double grading, right?
