Comparison of test requirements (green sash)

[Fitdoc]

Hi all,

I'll be testing for my green sash in northern shaolin gong fu in the next couple weeks. I'm curious how our curriculum compares to others. Our ranking system is as such: no sash, white, 1st deg white, yellow, 1st deg yellow, orange, 1st deg orange, green, 1st deg green, blue, 1st deg blue, brown, 1st deg brown, black. This will be my test for green sash:

1. moving shaolin stretches- straight, outside crescent, cross-legged, front snap kick/spear hand to throat, opposite side kick/punch, shin groin block/eagle claw to throat
2. taolous- toy koon, kew sao (with contact)
3. boxer's rebellion roll (inside forearm block)/down block/punch to face
4. kung fu triangle/tiger claw to face
5. eye jab and eye jab/elbow strike
6. lead leg low side kick and lead leg high side kick
7. double lead leg low, high side kick and all other kicks
8. defense against punches/kicks
9. three line techniques
10. defense against all holds
11. held by two opponents and anti-tackling
12. club (ie baseball bat or similar weapon) defenses
13. shaolin temple sparring warm-up drill
14. two-man knife sparring for 1 minute
15. defense against real knife attacks (sifu attacks with a real knife at 3/4 speed)
16. sparring- 2 one-minute rounds
17. child's prayer to buddha stance
18. hard chi-gung stance for 90 seconds and monk stance for 7 minutes
19. breaking 1 inch board with hand strike of our choice and kick of our choice

Test will usually proceed in above order. What does everyone think? Thanks

[Jingwu Man]

That's a very comprehensive test. Nice. How long does it take to run through it?

In my school it goes- no sash, white, yellow, orange, green, blue. red. black. 1, 2, 3, 4.

For green belt-
Chuan xin (chum sam)
Dahong quan (big red fist)
qixing jian 7 stars sword
Lianhuan qiang linking spear
Applications for all of the above.

Not as much as yours, but we cover a lot of the other stuff in regular class. The focus of our tests is to show knowledge, skill, and application.

Good luck with your test! :)

[Fitdoc]

I'm thinking the test will take about 45 -50 minutes. Does your school have a website? Ours is www.shao-lin.net

[BruceSteveRoy]

my old northern shaolin schools sash ranking was no sash, white, yellow, green, blue, purple, orange for 3 degrees and red was master ranking.

my new school which is not Northern Shaolin used to have three sashes yellow, red and black, (i think there were different degrees of wach of the three sashes though but i don't know for sure since it was before my time there) but now they have no sash, yellow, gold, orange, light green, dark green, light blue, dark blue, red, purple, brown, black for a bunch of degrees but i don't know how many.

[EarthDragon]

fitdoc
first of all there are no degrees in real kung fu nor sash colors for that matter but i realize that this is america and people need that but to put degrees in the colored sashes is a way to stretch out the learning process. let me guess you have to pay for the test too right?

I glanced at your webiste and thought you should change what you called
chi gun to qigong. other wise no one wil take you seriously, good luck in your test however It just seemed way to commercial

also why do you have my first teachers name on your website under the lineage page????? ting fong wong lived in buffalo NY after he moved here form Hong Kong..

[Fitdoc]

earthdragon,

Yeah, i certainly realize that sash colors/rankings are uniquely american. I trained in China for an entire month and saw no sashes or rankings. As far as how concepts or movements or techniques are spelled, you would need to ask my sifu why he spells them the way he does. Same thing goes for the lineage on the school's website. It's not my lineage, it's sifu Versagi's lineage. Anyway, whether it's qigong or chi gung, you and everyone else know to what i'm referring.

Yes, we do have to pay for a testing fee. I have no problem with that however. I'm VERY pleased with the knowledge i've gained at my school. In fact, if you want to know more about my sifu, PM Gene and he can tell you much more. My sifu (Frank Versagi) and Gene were training roomates at the shaolin temple in 1995.

[SevenStar]

In fact, if you want to know more about my sifu, PM Gene and he can tell you much more. My sifu (Frank Versagi) and Gene were training roomates at the shaolin temple in 1995.


Pwn3d! :cool:

[EarthDragon]

thanks for the reply fitdoc. i am pleased to hear that you are shotting straight forward and realize the things you do.

Yes I am very curious as to how ting fong wong is on your lineage. if you could ask your shrfu i would be curious as to how. I trained with him back in the 80's and am stillvery good friends with his son billy. He was a awasome man.

I saw him drill his finger into a brick one day while discussing ligament strength. it was a sight to see.

thanks again for the reply

[Hard Fists]

I had to break a brick with my junk to get green sash.

[Jingwu Man]

50 minutes, eh? Nice. I'm guessing you don't get to rest at all in between sections.
It says you do knife sparring. Is that freestyle or a form?
It sucks you have to pay for testing, but I suppose that is the way of the world. My school is a non-profit organization and does that stuff free, but if you feel you are getting what you pay for, plus supporting your school, than that's awesome.

My school's website is www.chingwu.org
Check out the classes section for our curriculum, and the demo page for videos!

[Fitdoc]

the two-man knife sparring is freestyle sparring with wooden knives. I forgot one other aspect of my test which will be a knife form called gim doi. I use a real knife and the one i'm using is this: http://budk.com/product.asp?pn=OKC3S

We dont get any rest between different sections of the test usually, but sifu isnt unreasonable either. If he sees you're struggling to catch your breath or whatever, he'll give you a few moments to relax.

I'll be sure to check out your school's website. Thanks for the link.

[dainos]

i just want to know if you only want northen stuff. if not ill gladly post what you have to test for green at my school

[Fitdoc]

Please list your green sash requirements too. I'm interested in any school's or style's test, not just northern shaolin. Thanks

[Oso]

question: are each of the 'deg' just a way to break down the level between one full sash and another...like most karate systems have 'stripes'...or is each level, including the 'deg's a separate grouping of skills?

not a loaded question, just curious.

I have my kids curriculum broken down into 7 'stars' per sash level. That way we can keep the little ADD monsters interested enough by being able to give them a star for a particular skill set within a sash level and then test them for all the material at once for the full sash ranking

Broken down like so:

Stance Set
Footwork
Punching
Kicking
Throwing & Falling
Chin Na
Forms

[Fitdoc]

Every sash color, including 1st degree, contains its own set of requirements. Sifu could have easily substituted another color in place of the "1st degree" levels, but he would have run out of colors, lol. He (sifu) denotes "1st degree" by placing a black stripe on the sash.

[EarthDragon]

interesting.
when I test my students our green sash level is the 2nd from beginner (yellow) and the test is cumultive from yellow as follows.

physical fitness part

200 of each of the 8 punches
20 rocking push ups
20 situps
50 frog jumps

technique

10 body cordinations
8 fists
8 stances
8 palms
8 blocks
8 elbows
8 hands

language

pronunce system in chinese
pronounce teacher in chinese

pretty simple but again it is the 2 test of 25 levels

[Fitdoc]

thanks earthdragon. Question- at what testing level do your students get their fighting skills evaluated, ie, sparring or combat?

[EarthDragon]

our system is based rather uniquely. And in all my years the most comprehensive outline to learn REAL kung fu

The first 4 levels are to get your body to move like a martial artist. They are for strength, balance, and flexibility and poise. this includes the

yellow level 10 body codinations

green level the 8's as in listed above 8 palms, 8 fists, etc etc

blue level the kick's and foot work ie. 8 high , 8 low , 8 knees, 8 kick blocks

red level are the 5 forms

mind you all of these are solo practice and take about a year to learn then you advance to the silver mantis level which is learning how to apply what you have leanred, actually the applications of the first 4 levels. this takes about 2-3 years.

With this is the pysical side is always present and steps up just as the levels do. almost to a ridiculous peak by the gold mantis level. like 10,000 punches, 350 rocking push ups 50 single legs knee bends and things that are just outrageously hard.

then the 5th silver mantis level is shuaichiao (throws) so you learn the applications then apply the throws to them, then you advance to the gold mantis level which is where chin na fa (joint locks) come into play.

so you see its a step process by the time you reach the 5th gold its about 5-7 years, then onto the master levels whre you learn herbology, tui, na qigong, accupnture etc etc.

I have found that it is the best way to condition, teach, and make excllent martial artist today as well as when the system was invented 350 years ago..