You're Not Old Enough!!

TJ-Jitsu · Blue Belt

Minimum age is 18 as one is an adult at that point. Prior to that, its just not practical to think a child can beat a grown adult. IMO if you give black belts to children you're inviting so much criticism and questioning of what you're attempting to teach people.

singularity6 · Pre-Black Belt

Putting kids in anything that involves intense exercise can cause permanent damage (if they continue to participate.)

They might do quite well through their teens and early adulthood. Problems set in later in life.

*Gymnasts tend to have looser bodies, and once they lose the muscle mass that supports the joints, they suffer stability issues in their joints
*General over-use issues set in earlier

Yes, there are many wonderful benefits for children in martial arts, but there are risks, too.
_________________
5th Geup Jidokwan Tae Kwon Do/Hap Ki Do

(Never officially tested in aikido, iaido or kendo)

JR 137 · Black Belt

Sensei8,

Soke wasn’t wrong. It’s his system and organization, and he’s entitled to do as he chooses with it. It doesn’t matter what anyone and everyone else is doing, as they’re entitled to make their own rules in their own organizations too.

But if I’m interpreting your original post correctly, Soke did make a mistake; he didn’t make it explicitly known there was a minimum age from the beginning. Had he made this known, the complainers wouldn’t have a leg to stand on. Because they didn’t know, they were under the impression/assumed that it was like most other places they’ve seen or heard of. If I was under the impression that my 7 and 5 year old daughters would receive a black belt after say 4-6 years of hard work and adequately fulfilling the syllabus, then when they were at that point and I was told for the first time that they simply weren’t old enough, I wouldn’t be very happy either. I’d have the feeling that my kids held up their end of the bargain, and the teacher was reneging on his end. Had I known from the time I agreed to allow my kids to train, it wouldn’t be an issue at all. If I wasn’t told until the expected time came, I’d be pretty upset. Think about it this way - my kids have been working hard to achieve something and I’ve been encouraging it to help keep them focused and motivated. Not in a be all, end all way, but in a positive way. They’ve done everything they’ve been asked and more, and they’re excited about it. And now I’ve got to tell them “sorry, it’s all been wrong. You’ve got to wait several more years before you can get it.” It would be like telling them Christmas has been moved back 5 years on Christmas Eve.

Make it known, and there’s no issue. Yeah, some people will still argue, but they’ve been told, so it’s easy to dismiss their protests. Don’t make it known, and you’ve got people exercising their entitlement of being able to leave as they see fit.

For the record, I don’t believe in kids wearing black belts, junior or full-fledged. But I understand the counter arguments and think they’ve got some great points. If I were to start my own school, kids would get a different belt color than black when they reached that point - either gray or a sort of camouflaged belt that incorporated all the kyu belt colors. But I’ll cross that imaginary bridge when I get to it

bushido_man96 · KF Sensei

DWx · Black Belt

sensei8 · KF Sensei

Behind closed door discussions Soke's reasoning was simply maturity, and for him, children weren't mature worthy to accept the great responsibility he believed was required for Shodan. He also had failed a countless amount of adults testing and/or petitions for candidacy because those adults, in his honest opinion, weren't mature enough mentally, physically, and/or technique wise.

With Soke, maturity had to be there for all three parameters, and not just with technique. He had absolute no tolerance for any student that thought that they were privileged because they pay their tuition and/or they've been a student for a while.

Dai-Soke was even more intolerant, but that's proof that the apple didn't fall far from the tree, in their care; student like teacher, I suppose.

I enforce it because it's a By-Law and to change that particular By-Law, a majority vote would have to be cast, but first that vote would have to have a motion, and then seconded, to be placed on any voting scheduling for the 2Q calendar. For now, I don't see that during my life time.

Can a SKKA dojo do whatever they want in this regard?? Sure, nothing preventing that; worser things can happen, no real big deal. That dojo would have to go rogue because the SKKA/Hombu would strip them of their charter.

_________________
**Proof is on the floor!!!

The Pred · Green Belt

KarateNewbie · White Belt

I'm just a newbie but in our dojo, the teaching is that you don't "get" a black belt. You "become" a black belt. It's a transformation of sorts, like a caterpillar to a butterfly, and involves a whole change of perception. While a 10 year old could quite possibly master the techniques needed to earn a black belt, I'm not sure if most are capable of this change of mindset.

OneKickWonder · Purple Belt

KarateNewbie · White Belt

	KarateForums.com Forum Index -> General Martial Arts Discussion	All times are GMT - 6 Hours Goto page Previous 1, 2, 3 Next
Page 2 of 3