How young is too young for a black belt?

How young is too young for a black belt:

I look around and see martial arts schools from all over running their kids programs. It’s a good thing, trust me I know, but you have to remember they are just trying to sell you something. From growing up in one of these schools I can tell you not every black belt means the same thing. Sometimes the black belt does in fact mean the kid is just a warrior. They can do awesome aerial kicks, understand the tenants, are leaders in the classroom and can also make tactical since of the moves in the forms. But I would say 9 times out of 10 the black belt does not represent that. I know this to be true because I have seen it, and been on both sides.

When I write this blog I tend to imagine I am speaking to someone who is a black belt already, so with that audience in mind I have a question. When did you get your black belt? If you were to be honest with yourself then do you think you were really a black belt quality martial artist at that time? I assume most people are not going to be honest with themselves at this point to which I say oh well, that is the same mentality that is driving the schools to participate in this kind of hogwash martial arts.
I did not get my black belt until I was 21 but I was in TKD and other martial arts, since I was 8. I think of it like this; they have a business to run and they can’t keep the two separate. They need the money to keep the school open so they have a black belt program, which is a pricey road to travel. Now I am not ripping school owners here I am just saying you might not be awarding a TKD black belt.
My only goal is to bring to light the cracks in our martial art, not to create division amongst us, so please hear me out. All I am trying to say is that “we”, instructors and owners, are too quick to get the kids out that don’t want to be there, or whose parents want them to complete the program, that we think they did good enough. This is a destructive fabric in our martial art and we need to rethink it.

So what are the requirements? Well they are in every single pattern. The blocks, the kicks and the hand strikes. Can that child, accurately, preform those moves taught in the forms? If they know what move to use, when and where, and how, then one to the next element. If the child can break boards properly, being that they substitute board for bone. Boards are to simulate bone breaking scenarios, so if they are showing they can break bones with proper applications then let's move one.

Do they know what kicks are practice vs. what kick looks impressive? For instance, can they kick in a door with a front kick? Do they know the history, of their art and their school? Do they know the tenants of the school and do they follow them? Do can they strike with most of their blocks? Is their body conditioned for physical impacts? Ig, is their shin tough, or their forearms?

Or if they are a black belt at your school, and your not a tactical school, do they meet the competitive requirements?

My rule of thumb is, with it being your school, would you be proud to say they are your black belt? We all have to answer this truthfully and mostly privately. But it has to be answered one way or another.

Bruce Lee - How Do Escape Armbar

I love how Bruce Lee escapes the arm bar. Now I have nothing against BJJ but don't think it's the end-all-be-all of martial arts. It has brought a lot of good things to the sport of MMA but as choreographed in an old movie, these things have been around. A street fight though is not a sanctioned fight with rules. So the classic bite will do just fine. Haha so anti-climatic.

The Kroean Venn Diogram

Taekwondo’s history is rich and full of intrigue. There are many arguments imbedded in the art and many answers to all sides’ of the questions. I find it problematic that we can’t just view TaeKownDo holistically, as I believe the General would have wanted us too, but instead we must contribute to the collective as individuals. From my position, and as I have read, the idea behind unifying the Kwon’s was to help adapt a national identity. With that being said the question must be examined as to what martial arts also came from the Kwon’s? You can dive into the history of Hapkido, tangsudo and Taekwondo all tried to attach themselves to Taekkyon. Moreover you will find links to Japanese and some Chinese arts as well. Hapkido looks a lot like TKD but the take downs are a mix of Jujitsu and Akido. TKD has some of these throws too but does not emphases them. And Tang Soo Do is basically, as I understand it, just a Kwon that did not play along. They all want to try and differentiate themselves from each other but that is not my intention. What I see is a handful of martial arts, steaming from the same part of the world, that overlap as thought there was a Venn diagram laid on top of their descriptions. What I simply propose is this; first, understand that TKD originated from the minds of Korean Karate masters. Second, understand that the idea to nationalize an art must have been prevalent in thought, at that time, or we would not be with three "different arts" currently. And lastly, promote the since of martial arts not the side that won the national identity crisis. Once you understand these things you will see that TKD class is a whole lot easer to teach. You will go from having a pool of TKD thought to having a tool box of TKD, Hapkido, Tangsoodo, Karate, and Taekkyon philosophies to pull from. So I would like to leave you with a string of videos to illustrate my points. I will have more thoughts this year and I will put up some more original material.

Mr. Mustache

Me doing white belt kata in shotokan karate

And guess what Karate thinks you should know at white belt. Each school is going to have it's own variation, as they should, but all in all it's all very similar. It should all be respected and studied.

TAE-KWON-DO FORM (Chon-Ji) white #1

I hate the way this guy does it but this is the white belt pattern in the ITF system of TKD. Guess what?

White Belt Forms

This is the TangSooDo white belt form. Guess what?

Hapkido Master - SelfDefense

If a TKD instructor would included some of these take downs and some of the tournament rules, the ITF AND WTF patterns could be elaborated for many years, in a class room setting.

Taekkyun #1

Every main Korean martial art attempts or has attempted to attach its self to this art. Taekkyun is a beautiful fluid dance that turns competitive at the end of each dance sequence. It is, according to historians, ancient. It's practitioners can take a simple kick and turn it into an elaborate take down or through with just the flick of the hip. If the art itself could be preformed by a dancer agile enough to do these moves a martial artist would preform these moves like a dragon.