“TO BE OR NOT TO BE A BLACK BELT”
Parents often asked me about what my expectations are for individual students in my class. Well its simple, I want a positive yes I can attitude and a strong willingness of heart and guts to learn and succeed. Too many times I hear a student or parent say that if they/their child doesn’t pass the next test or get better with their skills in class that they will be moving on. “I have high expectations at this test” they say or “If he/she doesn’t get better I don’t think we will be back.” The way I see it these individuals have already quit, they came to the class with a defeatist attitude looking to blame someone other than themselves for their own shortcomings. In short they have forgotten the tenets of Martial Arts and what it is that they are learning here.
Many of my students are now at a crossroads in their training. Many are faced with the many trials at the levels of learning in each class. Not only is form, sparring, combatives, drills, and weapons all a critical obstacle at each level that each individual has to overcome, but board breaking is one as well. With boards you either succeed and break them or fail to advance at that particular test. However failing to pass a test isn’t the end of the world, as you can do it again the next day. Each individual has been taught that form, sparring, skills and drills and board breaking are all tests of one’s determination and courage to succeed. I can recall many times in my lifetime when I was faced with just such obstacles, as both a child and as an adult. I can recall both failure and success. Yet the things that stand out the most and seem to be the most important to me are those things that I had to fight and struggle for. I can look back with pride upon having earned those things, for they weren’t just handed to me on a silver platter. Testing for rank is just such an obstacle. Each and every student can and will reach that stellar goal of black belt as long as they continue to have a success oriented attitude and a desire to learn.
As a parent you need to encourage just such success. Remember the goal of this school is to mold and shape each individual and this cannot be done by just giving them a passing grade when everyone, including the individual in question knows they could have and should have done better. Remember, I am not looking for perfection, but I am looking for things to be done right. Each and every student has been trained in the proper protocol for advancement at their belt levels. However as with everything in life there are no guarantees. But with a “YES I CAN ATTITUDE” anything is possible. Remember it’s a cruel world out there and nothing worth having comes easy and if anyone tells you otherwise they are most likely trying to sell you something. To succeed in anything worth having, requires a tremendous effort. Isn’t this the reason why you/your child started Martial Arts to begin with? In short there will be those that make it and those that won’t for one reason or another, and only these individuals know whom to blame. Only a small percentage, 5% to be exact, will make it to black belt and higher. The question now is who will that 5% be?
