They're getting youger and younger!

[Robinf]

What's the hang up over belts.

So what if a school in India wants to award black belts to three year olds. What effect does that have on you or your training. It just means that when these people finally wake up and come to your school they'll most likely be dedicated and stay for years realizing that all they have at the moment is junk.

The local TKD school here does stupid shlt like this. His ad campaign says "we are the only school that can qualify you for the olympics." The funny thing is, he doesn't require sparring. So, some of his 3rd degree black belts have only sparred 3 or 4 times in their life!

Now that's just plain dangerous and sick.

[Shaolin-Do]

Exactly my point when I said TKD will get your ass kicked for you cause it teaches you to THINK you know how to fight when you really dont. I have a really funny Muay Thai Vs. TKD fight at home on my PC... TKD dude gets his arse handed to him.

[Laughing Cow]

Originally posted by Robinf
What's the hang up over belts.

So what if a school in India wants to award black belts to three year olds. What effect does that have on you or your training.

Since most people will get their info from the media they will see this as the true face of MA.
And the whole image of the MA will change.

BB's already have lost their true meaning and for some time (falsely) were seen as a token of MA mastery and MA quality.
Most teens under the age of 16 are not even mentally or physically ready to master PROPER BB requirements.
BB "traditionally" takes 3~6yrs of 3 times a week classes, solo study and sparring, as well as a written dissertation.

Now tell me how anyboy under the age of 16 can reasonably fulfill those.

Maybe you would feel differently if they started to hand out sashes or similar at your local kwoon.

Cheers.

[rubthebuddha]

i think the rules of tkd teach worse self-defense habits than the actual techniques. no shots below the waist, no strikes to the back, etc., can teach people a very limited idea of what a good target is. maybe it's just the Greek in my heritage, but i'd rather get to someone's back and do my thing than square off with them continuously.

[norther practitioner]

maybe it's just the Greek in my heritage, but i'd rather get to someone's back and do my thing than square off with them continuously.

Thats too much info into your mating habits.... oh wait...


Yeah, too many rules in sparring etc. will take a lot of your tech. make them seem impractical, just 'cause you don't train right.....

[Laughing Cow]

I don't know about the downfalls of TKD.
But that I don't think is what the Threat is about.

Today you got a 3yr old TKD BB, tomorrow it is a Karate and soon more people will demand similar of many styles and maybe even CMA.

To be honest, I am so sick of walking into a MA school and seeing the "little Tiger or Dragon" class where the pre-schools kid go through their moves.
Or seeing a young BB that moves like a pregnant Yak after a night on the town.

Point is that if one school advertises a BB for such small kids soon it will be demanded of a selection of schools.
And money makes the world go round, pays the bills, etc.

Don't know about the other members here, but since I started MA I have seen a big shift in what the value of certain things are and how MA in general are perceived.

Back than seeing a 5 or 6yr old was rare, BB's could only awarded to students age 16 or older.

Cheers.

[Shaolin-Do]

I wish my kwoon would do full speed chin na drills. They say its too dangerous, and in all honesty I see where they are comming from, easy to pop someones sh!t out of socket w/most chin na... or break, ect... Esp. at full speed. Am probably going to organize a full speed chin na night at the heazy.....
Stupid shoulder.... So much to do, so much I cant do.

Gotta agree w/laughing cow there, It is dangerous to MA in general to be this giving with belts. Soccer moms will expect the same more and more often, but also how many soccer moms will put a kid in kung fu? Chances are the kids going to wind up in watered down hardcore americanized karate, or TKD, or some other popular BS, where they were going to get the BB in a few months anyways.
Think about it, that BB gives mommy an added sense of protection, that little jimmy doesnt have to worry about bullies anymore because he has a blackbelt.
Bullsh!t. That fat mean 6th grader is still gonna push jimmies skinny @ss over and take his lunch money.
So there inlies another problem - These BB's they keep handing out are giving a false perception of safety.

[MasterKiller]

Are my screen colors off?


I'm with SD, though. I think the parents are just as much to blame as the school owners. Some parents just won't enroll their kid in a school if they think it will be too hard for them to get a black belt.

[Laughing Cow]

Originally posted by MasterKiller
Are my screen colors off?


I'm with SD, though. I think the parents are just as much to blame as the school owners. Some parents just won't enroll their kid in a school if they think it will be too hard for them to get a black belt.

Agreed, the schools provide what it takes to keep their classes filled and the money coming in.

[Shaolin-Do]

Actually those kids are brown belts
I cant speak for SD across the country... Who knows how its going somewhere else. The highest ranking child at my kwoon is only a bluebelt however, and that is Sifu's daughter.
A 14 Year old just got his blackbelt actually... Who started when he was 9.

[rubthebuddha]

wtf is that adolescent quenton tarantino doing with his right foot?

northern -- i'm perfectly straight (my girlfriend is quite happy about that), so that joke was about being a quarter greek.

now, if i was full greek, maybe i'd be more into submission work from behind.

but i'm not, so i'd rather just hit 'em in the occipit and wish them a good night.