The Evolution of a Martial Artist Part 2 - Junior Black Belt Ranks

Hello Everyone! Here is the second part to The Evolution of a Martial Artist - Attitudes of Progression that I posted last week. I want to credit my Sensei Dean Romanelli of Detroit, MI and the current head of the Zen Bei Butoku Kai International Sensei Brian Ricci for the themes and some of the content presented here. I heard this lecture presented on September 22, 2012 by Sensei Romanelli and have since modified and added my own thoughts to it.

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!

 Junior Black Belt Level 1 - Humbleness/Competitive Spirit

Earning the first level of black belt is so exciting and is such a monumental time in someone's martial arts training. More often than not I see that when the new black belts arrive in their new class and start to train with the veteran black belts they develop an attitude of humility. This is wonderful to see! The new black belts are motivated by their instructors and by their experienced classmates and friendly competition begins. This can be a high tide that can raise the abilities of everyone! Some other observations that have been made of junior black belts:

They tend to put the brown belts in their place! These new black belts were the brown belts just a few months ago. It can be remarkable how changing a belt can change some one's attitude, and maybe that is a topic for another blog post, but these new black belts tend to enforce the rules and protocol of the dojo. In most cases the brown belts listen because they are so close in age and rank to the new black belts.

They start to realize what they don't know by virtue of hanging around the more experienced black belts and finally with those black belts as peers so to speak. This realization makes everyone a better student and allows for much more learning to take place.

Life long friendships may start to develop between the new black belts who stick around for the long haul! Truly one of the most special aspects of training together and sharing the same interests and passions.

Junior Black Belt Level 2 and 3 - Ego Part 2 + Attitude = Gray Hair for Sensei

After a few years of being a black belt, the typical attitudes usually develop in varying degrees. They are ego, entitlement and arrogance. It is the duty of the Sensei and Instructors to mold a dojo that is free of ego and entitlement. Ego and entitlement run contrary to the very essence of martial arts - self reliance! Through a strong example and firm but positive reinforcement the senior black belts can cut these attitudes down but in my experience they are never fully quashed because unfortunately they are human nature. Aside of the attitudes mentioned above, other observations made at this level include:

Generally improvements are seen in strength and power and student reaches a state of good overall athleticism. This is typically due to the students entering their middle to late teenage years and their bodies having for the most part becoming fully formed.

Physical skill jumps result in overconfidence and ego begins to creep back up and combines with adolescent attitude of grandeur. Ego and Arrogance! They're back and almost always come hand in hand with increased physical abilities. Suddenly these young black belts are stronger and faster than they've ever been and they start to realize it quickly when in class with other teenagers who might not have reached the same part in their adolescence yet. Sensei need to work to encourage an attitude of respect, compassion and gratitude in their dojo. If those three virtues are engrained in the black belts, compassion will win out over ego when the new black belts realize they are physically stronger than some of their classmates.

Student begins to think they know it all - more than Sensei - boredom develops in some cases. Suddenly these black belts start to forget that martial arts is about practice! Repetition is the mother of skill and somehow they think they're already the master. If the Sensei is skillful and on top of his black belts, he will rotate his curriculum and use age old tricks like disguising the repetition of practice to combat these feelings of boredom.

Junior Black Belt Level 4 - Maturity Begins

In my years of martial arts training, specifically within the Zen Bei Butoku Kai International, I have only seen a few level 4 junior black belts. This is simply because usually a student turns 18 and there for can test for adult black belt rank. Every once in a while though there is a student who is 17 and has been training long enough to satisfy the requirements of time that they become a level 4. I can say with confidence that the student who has been training long enough to become a level 4 junior black belt is worthy of adult black belt status in all aspects except that one crucial factor - age. Typically you see these common themes at this level of junior black belt.

Leadership begins amongst the junior black belts - the level 4 is the role model. They've been around the longest and probably the most physically capable junior black belt. Additionally, since they are still a junior, they are more approachable and viewed differently by the lower ranking junior black belts.

Boredom, if exists, begins to subside, the goal of shodan (adult black belt) is in sight. The genius of the belt system once again shows why it is so instrumental in helping keep students motivated. As I said before, the level 4 is an adult black belt in all but age usually, so the Sensei should use time as his ally and motivate the level 4 to use the time before he becomes 18 to improve relentlessly.

Skills begin to reach one of many physical peaks - talent has developed. The first physical plateau can occur here. Rarely evident to the student, the Sensei can tell and shouldn't be bothered by it necessarily. This is because the Sensei should know that the next level requires not only physical skill but more importantly mental and philosophical gains that only come with time and age.

Student realizes there is more to shodan than the physicality of it and begin to realize what they have been missing... Maturity is on the rise. This is where the difference between the 18 year old shodan and 17 year old level 4 junior starts to disappear. As a Sensei this is a very exciting time!

I hope you've enjoyed reading and pondering the attitudes that I've brought up here. Next week I will close out this series with the final post, the attitudes of progression in the adult black belt ranks. Check back and feel free to let me know if you have anything to add or if I've missed anything you think is important! Shoot me an email sensei@classicaldojo.com

Kanpai!

Sensei Gaddis