Bloody Belt Up................

Belts in karate are an important thing for most students, I think the feeling of being rewarded with something visual is always desired, that way everyone knows you have worked hard and are good, or perhaps better than the lower grades...............

Of course I have had those feelings to, one thing is for sure is when I don't feel those things, and just train, I enjoy my karate much more.

The karate belt is a necessary evil for us, we need to have 'some' structure to fit in with the rest of the karate world, it is also expected by students and simply would be to big a deal for most.

However it must be put in it's place, it is a by product of good training, not the intended benefit.

It can, of course be done in an open and posative way, essentially we only have 3 student grades, Green, Brown and black at our dojo, we do not formally 'test', but rank is awarded by assesment over a 3 month period of training, mainly by me but supported by the other OMAA or ISKK Sensei where appropiate.

Outside of the required physical (techniques,drills etc etc) and mental content (strategy, tactics etc etc) I like to think of these things as important elements to allow progress -

White to Green - good attendance and effort shown in the dojo to grasp the techniques shown.

Green to Brown - a good level of technical ability, a good level of resilience in the drills.

Brown to Black - a good level of ability in understanding the techniques and a solid, basic understanding of Bunkai, and therefore actual application.

Of course in realtion to character development, well if your a member of our dojo thats already mostly done, training does change us and mostly for the better as a by product, and a welcome one.

Jim