Belt structure

[Hapkid0ist]

-----I know that everybody has a different belt structure for what ever reason. I figured this could be an opportunity to share just a little more with everyone else and help push out some of those questions that are floating around.

So what is you belt structure, any particular reason why?

-----We used to have like only 4 belts back in the old days. It was like Yellow, blue, brown, red (whit and black being a given) This was before my time. My GM changed it from the traditional belt structure to the one we have now a long time agoe.

Testing fees start off at:

$25-yellow
$35-green
$45-purple
$55-blue
$65-brown
$75-red
No fees for Black Belt candidate (of course)
And was $150 for 1st dan but was pushed up to $250 about 2 years agoe.

-----A portion ($10 per testing fee up till 1st Dan) of the testing fees goes to the association, to the new belts, and some to a party after the rank change for the students.
-----For 1st Dan $150 goes to the association (used to be $50), the remaining pays for the embroidered belt and Diamond uniform. We try not to have to much extra come from the students for anything.
-----As soon as I get my Dojang reopened here in Cali I will raise the BB test fee a little to cover the costs of a party, BB ring, and profesionall BB portraits.
-----I am also not found of belts period, but since I have to have them I have had it approved to Go white belts with a black stripe for the gup ranks untill BB candidate. I will still award the color belts for a personal rack if they want it. The BB candidate belt will be paid for out of the last belt test fee.

-----Yearly association fees are $30 for Gups per year and $100 for Dans. I don't get any of this.

[Thomas]

Our Combat Hapkido system that we use is based around 10 levels (geups) and each geup has its own syllabus of technqiues, breakfalls, strikes, etc. The curriculum is cross indexed by the video series as well, making it easy to refer to each level's curriculum easily (and to reinforce it at home with a tape).

We use the following:
10 - White
9 - Yellow
8 - Orange
7 - Green
6- Purple
5 - Blue
4 - Brown
3 - Brown w/ 1 black tip
2 - Brown w/ 2 black tips
1 - Brown w/ 3 black tips

(Note that the recommended colors for 1,2,3 geups is different, but we prefer to keep the brown for the duration)

We charge $30 per belt test and this covers the belt, certificate, and other costs. Students must be active ICHF members ($40/year).

I don't remember the dan costs offhand but they are pretty reasonable.

[Jointlock]

Here is our list of Belts colors and the things worked on at each rank:

10th gup White Belt: Falling, Releases, Joint locks, Basic self-defense

9th gup Yellow Belt: Throws, Punch defense using strike counter

8th gup Orange Belt: Defense against cloth grab, Basic self-defense

7th gup Green Belt: Defense against two hand grabs

6th gup Green Belt: Punch defense using joint locks and throws for counter

5th gup Blue Belt: Defense against kicks

4th gup Blue Belt: Defense against knife attack

3rd gup Purple Belt: Chokes, Defense against chokes, Ground Fighting

2nd gup Purple Belt: Counter techniques, Intermediate joint locking techniques

1st gup Brown Belt: Attacking techniques, Advanced joint locking techniques

Black Belt Candidate Brown with black stripe down the middle: Teaching

I have been charging $25 for belt testings.

We used to have a red belt instead of purple, but my instructor noticed that some high ranking 6th and 7th dan Karate people were wearing red belts so to avoid confusion we changed to purple.

[klaasb]

white - free
yellow - $15 (incl belt and cert)
orange - $15 (incl belt and cert)
green - $15 (incl belt and cert)
blue - $15 (incl belt and cert)
purple - $15 (incl belt and cert)
red - $15 (incl belt and cert)
red/black - $15 (incl belt and cert)
1st dan - $150 (incl belt cert, passport, pass)

[Sahbunim]

Here is our structure for across our organisation

8th Kup White Basic Blocks, Fist Strikes, Kicks, Falls (basic orientation to having your head traveling towards the ground :rolleyes: ) & Self defence is the concept of circles which focus's releases from grabs.
7th Kup Orange Axe Hand strikes, basic kicks, Introductions for falls from being thrown & Self Defence is concepts we call armbar over & hand attacks (finger peels & small joint compresions).
6th Kup Yellow Elbow Strikes, Kicks and kicking motions, intermediate fallilng, Self Defence is concepts of armbar under, basic pressure points & what we the lock we call s-lock.
5th Kup Green Strikes, Kicks with intro to jump kicks, a fall which we call turnside fall basically the fall from any sort of joint locking throw, Self Defence is the concepts of v-lock and basic balance breaks.
4th Kup Blue Stikes incoperating spinning strikes, Kicks low range kicks and intro to spinning kicks, no hands roll, self defence is arresting techniques and more pressure points, intro to flowing locking combinations and intro to multiple falls.
3rd kup Brown Rolling strikes, kicking combinations, Multiple falling drills, self defence is kick defence & intermediate throwing.
2nd Kup Red Multiple falling drills, flowing locking combintations, ground locks & weapon defence.
1st Kup Provisional Black Belt (Half red half Black) Revision of all prev belt level techniques & defence from a grounded position.
1st Degree, 25 variation techniques, short stick, throw defence & amplified locks.
2nd Degree 50 variation techniques, Cane techniques, 1 handed techniques & a concept we call offensive defence.
3rd Degree 75 variations, reversals & joint destruction.

Well thats about it from the top of my head.

John

[Kwajman]

White, yellow, purple, green, brown, red, black. $60 for colored belt tests, $250 for BB tests. No parties though, we don't socialize much outside of the dojang. Actually where I live now theres no one to test us for higher belts, we have to go home stateside or to Hawaii. So I may be a first dan for a loooooong time.

[Dave Boy]

White.
Orange.
Yellow.
Green Stripe/Tag
Green.
Blue Stripe/Tag
Blue.
Red Stripe/Tag
Red.
Black Stripe/Tag
Black.

Usually charge GBP15.00 per grade. This covers the belt, pre-grading class/rent of mat space etc and a couple of sociable beers afterwards!

1st Dan Grading is GBP50.00
2nd Dan Grading is GBP75.00
3rd Dan Grading is GBP150.00

Black Belts contribute towards a party after any 1st Dan Grading - either at the training centre (it has a bar :) ), or at the pub opposite.

Gradings themselves follow a standard pattern.

Punch and Chop Technique.
Kicking Technique.
Hyung.
Self Defense Techniques.
Break Fall.
Breaking Technique.
Special Kicking Technique (flying or jumping kick)
Fighting Kick (basically a 2 or 3 kick combination)

Actual class fees depend on the club as the rental of mat space differs considerably in England....
All Black Belts pay GBP20.00 per month each into a separate bank account that we control.....this goes towards paying for further instruction, trips/seminars we want to attend, equipment etc......

[TheGnome]

There was no red belt at my old school. I am not sure if that is common to all Sin Moo programs or only to where I trained because of the Judo influence. In Judo a red belt signifies a very high rank (I believe it was 5th Dan and above, but it's been awhile since I've been involved in Judo). I've had a bit of a hard time with the red belt before black concept. In my old school the order was White, Yellow, Orange, Green, Blue, Brown, there were no stripes until I had my Brown belt, prior to that stripes/tips were only for the kids program. Now I believe there is a stripe system for all belt levels.

[TheGnome]

Oh, and there was no testing fee. There was a fee for the Dan certificate but that was the only one.

[Dave Boy]

I'm led to believe that originally our school didn't use red belts - they were supposed to be brown, but simply due to their lack of availability (I'm talking about the early 70's here) red was adopted as a replacement and it basically stuck.........I also understand that the original syllabus brought to the UK by Master.N.G.Joo didn't include tabs/stripes or patterns - these were introduced later with the arrival of another instructor, Master.W.K.Hong.

[dngrruss]

Here's how we do it at my school-

10th Gup- White- free w/ sign-up
9th Gup- Yellow- $30 test fee- covers belt, cert, admin costs
8th Gup- Purple- $30
7th Gup- Orange- $30
6th Gup- Green- $30
5th Gup- Blue- $30
4th Gup- Brown- $40- price increase to cover breaking materials for test
3rd Gup- Brown w/Black Stripe- $40
2nd Gup- Red- $40
1st Gup- Red w/ Black Stripe- $40
Jr. Black- 1/2 Red 1/2 Black-$40- still a 1st Gup, we make our students take a pre-black test to find flaws and errors to correct before the BB test

1st Dan- Black- $150- pays for Cert, embroidered belt, and dinner for invited BB/Masters Panel judging test.