How long does it take to become a Black Belt?

One question for a lot of families is: Is my child ready for belt promotions? Are you sure?

This allows another question to surface: What is a belt and what is it for? Martial Arts belts and the progression to each one is a symbol of a student's improvement.  At Superdojo, we have a Belt Promotions every 2 months for students that have trained regularly during that time.  Throughout the 2-month Belt Promotions "Cycle," we have three challenges that students have to accomplish. Some challenges will be easy for students and some will be hard. When a student performs what's required for each of the three challenges, they earn a stripe.  Get three stripes, you're invited to Belt Promotions.  Sounds pretty easy but as a kid said last night when his mom was trying to practice with him, "It's harder than it looks Mom!"

There are 12 different belts and three stripes per belt. Students have to be able to perform strong and powerful enough to earn their stripes physically and also attend enough classes to get the physical fitness from class and the character development lessons.

Our expectations are simple: Try your best and complete the challenge. As a student goes up in belt, they get better.  Some martial arts schools have only  2, 3, or 4 belts and it takes a year or two to get to the next one.  In the past, I've always thought those were the "Hardcore Schools." But the truth of the matter is, kids will quit if they don't get rewarded for a good job.  It's like dance or gymnastics or sports - a kid does it for a while and moves on to something else.

What we've done is added a few more belts, challenges for each one of them, specific character lessons that the students learn, taught by positive and "rock star" instructors to keep them with it for a long time. As an ATA Martial Arts location, we had to charge for each belt and belt promotion. To keep students for longer, we've decided not to charge for it and allow the students to move up the "ladder" when they have completed their challenges.

Ladder? Yes, short for The Ladder of Success.  You see, at the bottom or floor level, that's you. At the top, is your long-term goal.  Every rung you step up gets you closer to your goal.  When you stick with the climb, you will eventually get to the top.

The view from the top is AMAZING, figuratively. But literally, the difference between a white belt and a black belt is substantial.  But you have to realize that when you only take one step up a ladder, the view doesn't change at all. 6 inches doesn't make much of a difference.  Parents should always understand that there isn't a drastic change from each belt but when the student gets a few rungs up the ladder and goes up a few belts, the difference is a lot.

To make a long story complete, allow a child to complete each challenge and make sure they try their best for it.  Help them practice at home and let them get their stripe for a completed challenge on the first try.

Every student is different, the really amazing athletes are going to get better, faster, and stronger and the kids that have terrible balance and no coordination will get better too.

For students that want a really big challenge, start working towards the Alpha Black Belt! You can check out the details on that by clicking here and viewing that blog post!  It's going to be awesome!