2023-05-24
Teaching my regular classes at the Ross Farnsworth - East Valley YMCA.
Tonight was test night for my students and I was very pleased with everyone’s performance. In some cases I was surprisingly pleased as some of the issues that some students have been having in class seemed to disappear on test day. As usual, I’ll be giving out results next time we have class, so I have time to write up individualized feedback for each student.
I’ve also come to a decision regarding the young man who came to me as a junior sandan from an out-of-state Shotokan school with which I’m not familiar. It’s one thing when a black belt from another school is visiting your class, getting in a workout on vacation or whatnot. However, when they join your dojo, it presents challenges. It’s the age-old “can I wear my old belt” question, and I’ve come to a conclusion, at least for now.
If someone has earned a black belt from anther Shotokan school, I respect that, and I’m not going to make them “start over”, but our standards and curriculum are different and, without regular testing to help find and fix issues, it can be difficult to motivate students to make corrections. Likewise, it’s difficult to know when it’s time for them to take their next test.
For example, suppose someone comes to you as a black belt but, for whatever reason, their school didn’t do side snap kick - something that you begin testing at 7th kyu. Your own students have to learn it, and are tested on it, but because this new person came to you as a black belt, and won’t be taking those kyu gradings, they won’t necessarily ever be tested on it. So what do you do? On the flip side, they may have skills we don’t teach, and therefore don’t test, and that should count for something.
To be clear, I’m not talking about someone who joins at 8th kyu, and I’m not talking about people coming from a different art, or even a different style. I’m talking about reasonably solid black belts joining from other Shotokan schools.
What I’ve decided to do with students like this is allow them to wear their old belt, but have them take kyu gradings alongside my other students. I’ll make my own determination about where those tests will begin, depending on my assessment of the student’s skills. Yes, they should pass those early tests with flying colors, and I’ll have to figure out how to handle kumite when the time comes, but that’s not the point. The point is to leverage the existing curriculum and testing standards for their intended purpose - finding and eliminating problems to improve a student’s overall skill level.
