The Modern Black Belt

We need to rethink the modern black belt. So many martial artists despair over what it has come to, decrying the rise of "McDojos" that produce low quality black belts who not only lack physical skill, but have not been brought up in a culture of respect and discipline. It negatively affects how the general public views martial artists, reducing our students, in their minds, to wimps who couldn't make the team in any other sport and instructors that capitalize on this fact. On the other side of the spectrum, we also have talented athletes who win competitions, but display poor sportsmanship. In addition, despite their expertise in scoring points and winning medals, they still do not know how to apply martial arts towards practical self-defense. These come from the martial arts schools who care more about the sport than the art and culture of martial arts.

I agree that martial arts schools that sell only the material black belt for money, without teaching values or practical and effective techniques, give martial arts an undeserved bad reputation. However, it is not the time to move backwards to the days of the bamboo stick and hundreds of knuckle push-ups on concrete to "straighten out" students. Many schools take pride in the fact that they do not have many students because they teach "real" martial arts. It may be so in some cases, but for the most part, students are driven away by a culture of alpha male egoism and a demand for strict discipline enforced by physical punishments and emotional manipulation.

It's time we come to terms with and embrace what a black belt can mean in today's society.

By making martial arts more accessible, we have unlocked the potential to help so much more of the population than just able-bodied adults. We help children develop the focus needed to work with parents at home and excel in academics. The visible progression of the belt system boosts confidence in teenagers, who are struggling with the awful confusion and havoc that is puberty. Students with anxiety, depression, and other mental disorders find the structure of classes brings order to their life, and the support of the martial arts community of fellow students and instructors is uplifting and inspiring for them. We even have para-martial arts competitions and major martial arts supply companies such as Century offer alterations to traditional uniforms for students with disabilities to provide more comfort, mobility, and confidence when training.

Like anything else in life, however, teaching martial arts is a balancing act.

We want to make beginner classes easy enough that students build confidence by overcoming small trials. The visible progress they make from white to black belt is great motivation and reminds students of how far they have come. As they move up in belt rank, we gradually increase the difficulty of these challenges. The unfortunate trouble that we run into is that people envision black belts as superhuman beings, capable of smashing bricks with their bare hands and leaping across buildings. The mythology is fed constantly by pop culture and martial artists themselves through jaw dropping demonstrations of flying kicks and board breaks.

But most black belts cannot do those things. Those are feats by professional demo teams or Olympic athletes who train for hours and hours on end. The average student, however, might not understand that. They are disappointed when they are not taught "real" martial arts.

They also don't understand that for all the amazing stunts, there are dozens of injuries. The acute ones are not so bad - sprains and even broken bones heal after a while. But plenty of martial artists experience chronic injuries from over-training or suffer reduced quality of life thanks to one stunt gone terribly wrong, or repeated sparring injuries from lack of self-control.

Many martial artists utilize research in sports and exercise science to enhance their training methods and prevent injuries. Some examples include work by Juice Compound and USA Taekwondo to train American athletes for the Olympics. But more than that, we have to change what people accept as a baseline for black belt. For the most part, our students are amateurs, which is to say that they are not professional athletes training to earn a living from martial arts. They have children to raise and they need to avoid breaking limbs to work the jobs that provides for their families. They don't have the time to commit towards becoming superhuman, and even if they did, there is no pressing need to become superhuman.

This is 2018 and we don't need Spartan warriors. You cannot defend justice with your fists, no matter how hard you train. We need more respect for each other to listen and resolve problems without violence. Martial arts are about so much more than the physical results, to which many instructors can attest and use to promote their school's mission. But there's always a little voice that wonders if we have watered down what a black belt should stand for.

I propose thinking of achieving black belt like graduating high school. It's a big deal! You've learned a lot! But it's only the beginning. It's an analogy that the average Joe can understand and sets realistic standards, especially for kid black belts. After all, you can't tell a kid to work hard for three or four years and then tell them they can't get a black belt simply because they don't have the physical strength or mental maturity of an adult. Frankly, even some adults lack those two things, so how can we expect that of children?

We can go even deeper into that analogy, and if you think about it - not all students graduate from high school with a 4.0 GPA. You've got your A+ students and your C- students, too. Of course, we prefer A+ students. But if you did the job right, even the C students learned something, if only a little bit.

If you think of it this way, there is no need to despair and lose students by setting extremely high standards for your first degree black belts. As you move upwards, of course, the expectations should rise. I think of second and third degree black belts like college students. We expect more, but we don't expect them to be experts in their field.

Fourth, fifth, and sixth degree black belts are like graduate students. They have gone far enough into their specialty to know and teach a lot about martial arts. But with that knowledge, they realize how much they don't know. That's where I am, personally. I am humbled by the vast expanse of the martial arts world. There are thousands of opportunities to train both myself and my students, an a plethora of martial artists to meet and learn from.

Seventh and eighth degree black belts are like post-docs. And finally, at ninth degree black belt, I will enter professor territory. Even then, I can't say I know everything, or that everything I do is right. To do so is to perpetuate the belief that black belts are infallible, which leads to massive disappointment and misleads your students. At the same time, being in a high position means to assume more responsibility for your actions, and deep thought into how you act affects your students and the martial arts community as a whole.

The modern black belt is human, and therefore not without flaws. However, the modern black belt, with their dedication to training, builds their spirit to has the strength to admit mistakes and do better. Everyone's black belt journey is different, but still valuable, and that means accepting that the modern black belt may not look like the ones in cheesy Kung Fu movies or gritty action films.

Children learn focus, respect, leadership, and responsibility, which we hope will guide them towards a bright future for the world. Adults learn humility and renewed inner strength, especially those who begin martial arts later in life and must be patient with obtaining results.

The modern black belt is worthwhile not because you gain superhero abilities, but because it is another method for humanity to improve itself.

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