BaeNim Roy
13-Feb-2004, 01:44 PM
Hello, people. I have done martial arts for a long time but came across this forum only some time ago. Now that I have finally managed to register I thought I could introduce myself formally.
I am 18 years old, (last year) high school student from Finland. I started martial arts at the age of six (IIRC) and have done karate, judo, and most recently tae kwon do. It's eight and a half years since I started TKD and am going to try (can't think of a better word here) a black belt next summer. TKD is not everything in my life, I have only 2-3 hours of training a week normally, double that now that the 'belt exam' is closing in.
I did not intend to register as a member here at first, reading through all the info you have here seemed like a huge and rewarding enough effort. However, after reading a couple of those "I have done <random martial art> for three years now, have black belt and know everything, what should I do next?" posts I was so terrified that I had do something. We have had some foreign people join our training sessions a few times, and I know that especially in the U.S they seem to take martial arts for a joke, their black belts are no match even to our blue belts. In Finland we take it very seriously, I for example think that I'm doing the black belt exam too early, it would be appropriate after about 10 or more years of training, and even then only if you feel that you are ready for it. However, my instructor thinks I'm ready for it, so I take it as my responsibility to try it (and I have no doubt that I can do it). Anyway, the point is that I find it really frightening that a person who does not know much about the art can get a black belt. Having done TKD this long I no longer am blinded by a colourful belt someone has, and it takes more than that to earn my respect. However, I still think that you should be able to tell something about the person and his/her skills based on the colour of the belt.
Enough complaining, I hope we can have many good conversations, especially on this subject, later on. Thank you for reading :)
PS: That 'Bae Nim' in my name is supposed to mean "a member of smt" in Korean, correct me if I'm wrong :). And no, my real name is not Roy ;)
- Roy
I am 18 years old, (last year) high school student from Finland. I started martial arts at the age of six (IIRC) and have done karate, judo, and most recently tae kwon do. It's eight and a half years since I started TKD and am going to try (can't think of a better word here) a black belt next summer. TKD is not everything in my life, I have only 2-3 hours of training a week normally, double that now that the 'belt exam' is closing in.
I did not intend to register as a member here at first, reading through all the info you have here seemed like a huge and rewarding enough effort. However, after reading a couple of those "I have done <random martial art> for three years now, have black belt and know everything, what should I do next?" posts I was so terrified that I had do something. We have had some foreign people join our training sessions a few times, and I know that especially in the U.S they seem to take martial arts for a joke, their black belts are no match even to our blue belts. In Finland we take it very seriously, I for example think that I'm doing the black belt exam too early, it would be appropriate after about 10 or more years of training, and even then only if you feel that you are ready for it. However, my instructor thinks I'm ready for it, so I take it as my responsibility to try it (and I have no doubt that I can do it). Anyway, the point is that I find it really frightening that a person who does not know much about the art can get a black belt. Having done TKD this long I no longer am blinded by a colourful belt someone has, and it takes more than that to earn my respect. However, I still think that you should be able to tell something about the person and his/her skills based on the colour of the belt.
Enough complaining, I hope we can have many good conversations, especially on this subject, later on. Thank you for reading :)
PS: That 'Bae Nim' in my name is supposed to mean "a member of smt" in Korean, correct me if I'm wrong :). And no, my real name is not Roy ;)
- Roy