Hi, I was just wondering if you guys could list the grades and colours of the systems of TKD that you practices, I'm curious because I hear some people talk about being Brown belts, but in the only TKD I've been exposed to (Tosh's ITF club) they don't do Brown belts. Cheers. Col
yes, ratman has already started that discussion. check out the thread BELT SYSTEM. it's right there on the first page.
Cheers guys. another question for you. If TKD is an olympic sport, then it must have one Worldwide governing body, so who is that WTF or ITF? And why then the differences in colour belts if you have one governing body? Ta, Colin the nOOb
Errr, that's a bit of a broad assumption, WTF - TKD is an Olypmpic sport so it has to have A worldwide governing body. That doesn't mean that other styles or governing bodies do not exist. but in essence "the big 2" are ITF and WTF. Governing bodies deal with administration they (at this point) have little control over split-orgs and associations which draw up their own syllabus. That;s why you may see variations. Certainly from General Choi's Encyclopedia (current edition) the belt system is laid out and that is what our ITF club follow.... but again other associations implement differing sylabuses. Just slight differences in general the foundations are the same between ITF clubs. The greater difference is between ITF/WTF clubs. For example, visit 10 secondary schools, not all teachers teach maths the same way or even to reach the same goals. However, usually there is a common understanding of maths between the students of all 10 schools. Grab me next time if confused!
So the WTF is an administrative body, they don't set grading standards? If you were in an ITF club and were skilled enough, could you earn a place on the olympic team? cheers, Col
Weel first they do (as far as I am aware) set a syllabus although I'm always confused as to the role of the Kukkiwon here. Some WTF beggar is bound to help Since the sparring is slightly different it's more a case of changing they way you train. There is certianly no reason why an ITF practitioner would not be included but I'm sure (like in any sport) they would have to prove themselves in a WTF arena. I think your are a little confused about the role of ITF & WTF in TKD. Next time you see me (Halloween?) remind me about it!
To tell you the truth i wonder about the ITF now. They have split into so many different groups that its killing the org.
that's the thing that confused me when i joined this forum. people were talking about different belt colours, different sets of rules, different grading rules etc but then again we were all talking about the same martial art. a bit weird, wouldn't u say? i got the impression that there are so many schools/clubs that use their own curriculum but the question is whether or not that curriculum has been approved by a governing body. if not, then the certificates that students get after they pass a belt test isn't worth anything, or am i wrong? (do u guys get a certificate?) in my country WTF is the dominant style. and all the schools in my country belong to the taekwondo federation of the country that is part of the WTF. so the certificates are valid. i think there are only very few ITF clubs in my country but there are no competitions and they are almost non-existant because they do not belong to a federation. they just exist on their own. and the same is with some of the clubs that have been mentioned here. and that might be a bit of a problem, wouldn't u say?
Yes but who's to say who gets it right and wrong??? Whose saying there is one hard and fast way to tech TKD?? As I said before as long as the fundamentals are taught appropraitly within a similar timescale does it really matter what colour thier belt is?? As has been raised hundreds of times Belt systems are used as a guide for the teacher in most cases, not a hard nd fast rule about the student. Why should a certificate be worth anything?? Surely, it should be down to the students ability?? What can you "buy" with a certificate? Please don't keep where you are from secret any longer!! I think this is the 3rd time I've asked where in Europe you are from.
The "governing body" can be a federation such as the WTF's (World Taekwondo Federation) Kukkiwon, or from the ITF (the ITF is indeed a "federation" -- International Taekwon do Federation), or from the USTA (where my certificate originates from --United States Taekwon do Association).... or any "other" union, association or federation.... be it known that many TKD school's are not "regulated" and as such do not require to give a student an "official" certificate... As far as "color of belts" ... (which brings us to the original question asked) Many schools use different approaches to belt ranking eith by colors, tips or levels/degrees of different color ranks. Simply .... Belt colors vary depending on school. Our school has "brown" others have "red".... some call their second ranking "gold" while others call it "yellow".... Some schools do not have purple... others do. Confused yet?
Consider this. A legitamate black belt has his certificate destroyed. How can they prove the are a black belt? You see my point. At the end of the day certificates are for speed/ease of administration nothing else.
A couple of things: (1) The Kukkiwon (for the WTF) does set a bunch of requirements for promotion, including time, age, and poomsae (and other things)... but the real testing is done at individual schools. As long as a student meets the minimum requirements for WTF rank, they can be promoted with their master's recommendation. Some schools add things (like we add a pretty in-depth self defence section, all of which is required for promotion in our school... exceeding what is required from the WTF) or focus on things... hence why you may meet a 2nd dan WTF black belt who doesn't spar much... because they focused on forms. Or the opposite..... many schools do mainly sparring, and save forms just for tests. As long as school meet the base requirements, the individual masters can recommend promotion. (2) It's nice to belong to a big organization like the WTF (or ITF or whatever) because they provide a general guideline of what a student probably learned at each level. It also provides assistance on training videos, magazines, and seminars (very valuable). The best thing is that, if you are a dues paying member of the WTF, you (usually) can train for free when travelling around at any WTF school... just show your dan card. The recognition is nice too, if you travel to seminars or to train in another country. (3) With the recognition comes the benefit of having your martial arts record on file... if things get lost or burnt or whatever, you can replace them (for a fee) from the parent organization.
I would agree with this personally. One of the reasons I choose to have my "piece of paper" given to me by the WTF is for the larger recognition. There are small schools with no affiliation that issue ranks as well... does it mean the students do or do not have ability? Nope. It all depends on the individual school. (I also discourage comparing rank across styles and across most schools... they just may not be the same. I do know if I meet another WTF school that they can get a pretty good idea of what I've studied by my rank, 3rd dan. If I go to a Karate school, they may have assume abilities or may may not...) At our school, anyone who comes in with rank from another school is allowed to wear that rank or a white belt until we evaluate where they should be placed in our school... it may be a higher or lower rank than their previous experience. They are evaluated on ability... but the rank they bring in gives us a very general idea what to be looking for (we also ask what their ranking system is, how long training, etc.) A certificate is a peiece of paper that does mean something to people in the same organization and among various organizations.
i agree. and of course, i don't want to repeat myself a million times, i am also more interested in skills than a piece of paper. but it's just the world we live in that sometimes we are all judged or chosen for a job by a piece of paper. if 50 people apply for a job position they won't be allowed to work a week, no, their CVs will be read as well as recommendation letters (and all that can be faked of course) and one person will get the job, right? that's the way a lot of things are in this world, but it doesn't mean that i have to agree with them since WTF is the dominant style here, students who transfer to my club don't have any problems adjusting. for example, 3 guys came to my school, because they started studying here (1st dan, red belt and blue belt). but i have to say that they all deserve their ranking. not long time ago i invited a friend of mine to come to my club as guest instructor and the training session wasn't that different that one could say that i and my friend were teaching different things. the problem that i encountered was with people coming from other countries. i have already mentioned that american girl who used to train TTA and got the black belt after training only for 2 years (no fights, no sparring experience). she had and still has problems catching up with the rest. she wore the black belt in the beginning, but then stopped. i didn't demote her, but maybe she stopped wearing it because she noticed that she was in the group with the green belts, and that is fairly said her rank. another problem is with people who start training TKD but trained something else before. a lot of attention has to be paid to the way they do their technique, because there are differences and nuances of differences between MA. so u can't actually put some of them in the beginners class, but then again they can't cope with the black belts either. being a good and fair instructor is very hard, because it takes a combination of many different things.
In my school this is how our belt system goes: White Yellow Yellow w/ stripe Green Green w/ stripe Blue Blue w/ stripe Red Red w/ stripe Black:yeleyes:
