By: Dan Jones
What does the term "Black Belt" mean to you? To me, and to most of us, it means years of training, dedication, sacrifice and sweat. In addition, the person wearing the coveted Black Belt was someone you should respect and honor because you knew they could destroy you in seconds with powerful hand and foot blows. Yet, this same person was soft-spoken, reserve and very humble. This was a person, not only of great ability, but also wisdom, someone that had survived many life experiences, someone a kid could look up to.
As a child my goal was to someday have the abilities that would enable me to be worthy to wear the Black Belt. I never would expect, nor did I expect to ever attain my Black Belt until I was truly worthy. I never would have dreamed that I could have worn the Black Belt without even being able to compete against an adult. Nor would I, or any real martial artist, want to.
So why do we see 12 year old, 10 year old and even 5 year old Black Belts??? This degrades anyone that earned their rank legitimately and it degrades the rank itself. It also discredits the child's style, Instructor and the dojo that would permit this to happen.
I don't know about you but when I see a "child black belt" I see a dojo and Instructor that has lowered it's standards for money. Or one that has submitted to the pressure of parents that have always wanted little Johnny or Suzie to be a black belt. Regardless for the reason, promoting a child to black belt is shameful!
A child doesn't have the ability, maturity or life experiences that go with the responsibility of wearing a Black Belt. And in my opinion, any Instructor that promotes a child to this rank has not only turned their style into a joke, but has placed the child into a situation of unrealistic expectations that if called on to use could place the child in grave danger.