The Evolution of a Martial Artist
/Hello Everyone! I wanted to share an old lecture that has been refined many times over the years. I have contributed to these ideas in the context of my own notes but in no way originated these ideas. I want to give special credit to my Sensei, Dean Romanelli of International Martial Arts in Detroit, Michigan. He organized and improved upon these characterizations and I heard them presented by him in a lecture on September 22, 2012.
These descriptions can be applied to any martial art that uses a belt system and are generalizations, please treat them as such. The point of this post is to highlight some of the negative aspects that pop up over the course of years of training and what can be done to counter them. Enjoy!
The Evolution of a Martial Artist - Attitudes of Progression part 1
White Belt - Curiosity
They feel the mystique of the martial arts in general. A beginner comes into the dojo with many preconceived notions. Some are good and beneficial and some are not good and detrimental.
They also feel the mystique of the black belts. This goes along with the the above characterization, but is in my opinion more dangerous. It is paramount that the black belt holders in any school be ambassadors for all the virtues of the martial arts, not the negative misconceptions that the public might associate with the martial arts.
Yellow Belt and Orange Belt - Eagerness
Full of energy and ready to train! They have a few months of training to their credit and are starting to think they know a lot! The yellow and orange belts are experts...around the white belts! So its the responsibility of the senior students to always be positive and encouraging but show these fresh ranks the right example.
Green Belt and Blue Belt - Growth
Intermediate students tend to begin to realize they are missing the details of just about everything. When this happens personal growth may begin. This is probably the most crucial part of a martial artist's first few years, depending on their specific martial art. If the students have had the virtues of Respect, Compassion and Gratitude taught to them, I feel growth comes easily.
Purple Belt - Change
You don't always see your own progress - and think you aren't getting any better. This is common in the intermediate ranks. The designation 'intermediate' is the largest category of rank levels for those under black belt. Progress is fast up to this point and incremental during it. Students need to have staying-power. This is the training period where they learn perseverance and to simply keep training no matter what, day in and day out.
Other activities start tempting us away...After 2-4 years of training, many people can become simply distracted by 'life'. New trends and activities, changes of scenery and other things start to appeal because they have the 'new factor'! A good martial arts school will have a diverse curriculum and encourage cross training to keep students motivated and focused on the ultimate goal...Black Belt!
Basically as my Sensei summed it up for me: Either you transform or you don't. Those who do realize that they have come to far to quit now - they are halfway there.
Brown Belt - Ego
The brown belts can be real trouble makers if the wrong attitude is prevalent in the martial arts school. Brown belts can think they rule the dojo and that they should be black belts already. Students around this level usually resort to physical technique and ability instead of their intellect for the most part. The way I learned, brown belts are in a waiting period to calm their skills and attitudes down to black belt level. To a level where the first response to a problem or situation isn't physical, because before the problem or situation culminated, they used their intellect to diffuse or resolve it.
I hope you enjoyed this perspective into some of the attitudes that can both help and hinder us in our martial arts training!
Next week I'll be posting the common attitudes that afflict junior black belt and adult black belt ranks.
Kanpai!
Sensei John Gaddis