Black Belt Madness

[Sapphire Silk]

A slightly sucky story of bad kid behavior from when I went to black belt testing at my Tae Kwon Do school last night.

It's a good school. The parents are nice people. I've genuinely liked everyone I've met there.

But some of the kids got a little out of hand during the testing.

Black belt testing is a big deal. They only do it 3 times a year. Other students are encouraged to attend and cheer on their classmates, which I did this time. I also wanted to get an idea of what my black belt testing will be like in a couple of years.

Some of the parents brought their junior belt kids for that very reason. But the test is long (we were there nearly 3 hours) and after about an hour the younger kids really start getting restless. It didn't help that the school gym that was contracted for testing (our regular school is too small for the candidates and the families) had the most uncomfortable bleachers it's ever been my displeasure to sit in.

One of the parents brought noise makers for the kids to use during the self defense testing and sparring testing. Problem is they a) gave them to the kids (who were about 4-6 years old generally) way too early, and b) those tests were mixed in with forms testing where you have to be quiet. The testing was done in waves (youngest kids, older kids, adult women, adult men), so you'd have forms-self defense-sparring repeating in waves.

The parents kept trying to keep the kids from using the noise makers during forms testing. Needless to say, they were not successful.

It was a battle that was lost before it even began. Once you give a kid a noise maker, nothing short of taking it away is going to make him stop using it.

I finally had to move away from where I was sitting because of it, even though I ended up with a less advantageous view.

[AnaKhouri]

And once you take it away, the kids start howling in fury, so it doesn't even work then!

[Sapphire Silk]

Exactly

[Luna Baby]

At the school where we trained, we had an area called "the parent's playpen". The training floor was a long room, with a door on either end coming into the hallway. At the very end of the training floor, Master H. had a window installed, about 4 feet high and the width of the room. All spectators sat in that little area, on the outside the training room, seperated from the class by that glass. The playpen area was a raised platform so you could see into the room very well.

We usually only had 1-2 blackbelt testings per year. If there were more than 2 or 3 candidates, testing and the ceremony together could take all day.

[Jay 2K Winger]

They gave kids noise-makers?

So they gave the kids... kids of their own?

[Sapphire Silk]

At the school where we trained, we had an area called "the parent's playpen". The training floor was a long room, with a door on either end coming into the hallway. At the very end of the training floor, Master H. had a window installed, about 4 feet high and the width of the room. All spectators sat in that little area, on the outside the training room, seperated from the class by that glass. The playpen area was a raised platform so you could see into the room very well.

We usually only had 1-2 blackbelt testings per year. If there were more than 2 or 3 candidates, testing and the ceremony together could take all day.

Our schools (we have 5) have open practice areas, with benches for the parents so they can actively watch the kids. Master W. will sometimes address parents directly when he's trying to make a general point to the kids as a class; he engages the parents actively in his teaching style, which the parents love because he's usually making a point about focus and respect.

We had about 20 people testing for first dan, 7 or 8 for 2nd dan, and one for 3rd.

We also had 6 masters plus all the instructors doing the evaluations.

They gave kids noise-makers?

So they gave the kids... kids of their own?

[Yurimaru]

Noisemakers?!? Sounds awful... Our Master Instructor wouldn't have let those be given out at all, if he'd found out someone had them at a test. He does engage the kids at the longer tests, though, and asks them questions from class, while they wait for others to finish their parts of test. He tries to make it better for the little ones, because they are expected to sit quietly during test, and it can sometimes be long. Master T usually runs the kids thru their requirements pretty efficiently, tho.

Parents sit in their own area and watch, in folding chairs, which is a bit better than bleachers. They're usually pretty happy and we let them sneak 'round the edges when they want to photograph or videotape their child.

Black Belt test is this weekend! Wheeeee! We have five testing for 1st Dan, and 4 folks testing up from black belt. Then, we have the bunch of kids and adults who are testing in the gup ranks.