A Heart Warming Black Promotion

That Chaps My Bitter Ass

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26 responses to “A Heart Warming Black Promotion”

  1. While I totally get your disdain for children earning black belts, I think you’re conflating a BJJ black belt with a karate one.

    I’ve been told by multiple karateka (karate isn’t my style) that earning a black belt in karate means you’ve got the basics down. The real work doesn’t start until *after* you’ve attained the rank. (Dan vs Kyu rankings) Plus, there’s a huge difference between professional fighters (and world-caliber amateur fighters) and the 99.9% of any other black belt holders.

    If it took her four years of constant work? That’s a good two years more than most mcdojo’s out there…

  2. A s”black belt” either means something particular or it is worthless. My son is an Hapkido black belt. It took him 8 years of hard work to earn it. I watched his final test and it took his last ounce of energy to finish it. Both my grandsons are TKD black belts, one 2nd degree and the other 3rd degree. They both had to go through multiple steps in each color belt to advance to the next one. The [very Korean] school required evaluation by a master from Korea for the 3rd degree and will require evaluation in Korea for advancement to the 4th degree.

  3. I’m impatient too see such syndromes persons becoming firefighters or elite army instructors… LOL
    Black belt doesn’t mean anything anymore.
    Sorry.

  4. Trav, I know what you mean. I received my 1st Black Belt in TKD and had to go through Hell and back to prove I had earned it! I understand the importance to reward resilience and hard work, but that should not be at the expense of the standard that should be upheld to reward excellence (and lethality). We really are shooting ourselves in foot with this cancer of “Participation Trophy” mentality.

  5. I find that when I see someone who has overcome challenges, it’s heartwarming. This woman has obviously worked hard to get where she is physically and skill-wise.
    However, I think it needs to be accurate as well. I saw the sparing that she’s doing at the end, and it doesn’t approach what I would expect from a black belt. Also, four years doesn’t really seem nearly long enough for anyone to be considered near the top of the skill tree, as it were. I had a friend who basically went to class 20 hours a week for a year and achieved his black belt. He was tall, slim, well-muscled and coordinated, and though good, I didn’t think he was truly a black belt. But rising through the belts kept him paying big bucks to keep attending consistently.
    I will say again, I think that lady did a great thing, I don’t want to take anything away from her. The lessons you learn pushing yourself like that pay dividends throughout one’s life.

  6. 100%. I’m a gimpy, narrow-assed engineering nerd. There should be no black belt on this planet whose ass I can kick, but there are. I know couple of them. It’s pathetic.

  7. I have to agree with you on this one, Trav. What a friggin ‘Travisty of Justice’ I just witnessed there. Yeah, I guess black belts have no real value any more if anyone can get one these days. Shameful.

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