This topic may have been discussed in a previous posting, but I couldn't find it.

My son (15 yrs old, black belt, Shaolin Kempo Karate) keeps his training to himself. Nobody in his high school knows of his training except for a few close friends and those who may have seen him at a karate demo that he participated in. He feels that he is avoiding potential problems (being challenged to a fight to prove his skills/rank or asked to show off his skills). Also he believes that by not making it generally known he's a black belt that the element of surprise would be on his side if he ever found himself in a situation where he could not avoid a fight.

My son went to a tournament/invitational this past Spring and ran into a green belt who goes to the same high shcool as he does. He knew the green belt and have over heard the other boy talk about his MA training, but never discussed his own training. You can imagine the surprise the green belt had when he saw my son competing and winning 1st place in both junior black belt katas and weapons. After the events the green belt approached my son, gave him a courtesty bow and congratulated him on doing so well and told him that he had no idea that my son was such an "expert" in karate!