Junior Black Belts


For years we have deliberated the idea of a "child" Black Belt.

We used to teach kids the same as adults. We knew that they couldn't learn the same as adults but we tried to ram the material down their throats anyway. Once in a great while we would get a gifted child that could hang in there and get to Black Belt while in the meantime we made it mostly impossible for them to succeed in an adult curriculum. Kids couldn't match adults in technique and should not be expected to. Well it took many years to figure out how to teach them better but I think we finally figured it out.

While in college I studied child psychology but had not translated it to our martial arts teaching. Now we have designed a "Junior" Black Belt rank that lets kids that train hard and practice a lot the opportunity to make a rank that is a condensed version of our adult Black Belt. After this promotion they will continue training to learn the remainder of our adult curriculum to become a full fledged adult Black Belt. This photo is of our first group to be awarded the rank of Junior Black Belt.

Congratulations!

Kwan Jang Nim Bogdanski

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Jack Scott- United Karate Studio- Cookeville, TN

Image
Jack Scott- United Karate- Cookeville, Tennessee   Around 1988, I arrived at my inlaws who had relocated to Cookeville from New Jersey.  We had brought my four year old son there to visit his grandparents and spend some quality family time.  After being there a few days I casually leafed through the yellow pages to see what karate schools were around.  My eyes landed on Jack Scotts United Karate Studio and I decided to call.   I explained I was visiting family and asked if I could come down and watch some karate classes.  Mr. Scott said it was not a good night to come down but the next night would be better.  Of course that prompted me to go down and see why I could not watch.  Well he received me with open arms and let me watch for several hours.  We talked for a long time and then he asked if I would like to take a class the next night.  I responded I would like to but had not brought my uniform.  He loaned me a uniform and Black Belt and we had only just met!   The ne
Read more

Grandmaster Nick Cerio

Image
 Back in the 80’s we ventured out on the tournament trail across New England in the pursuit of higher levels of karate competition.  The karate king of Rhode Island, Grandmaster Nick Cerio, had the largest contingent of students and ran the biggest tournaments.  Being a student of Mr. Cheezic opened a lot of doors for us so GM Cerio welcomed us with open arms. Over the years we spent a lot of time together and got very friendly.  One of my fondest memories is having a dinner that lasted late into the night with Mr. Cheezic, Nick Cerio and Chuck Merriman.  Oh the stories that they told.  What rich history.
Read more

Special "K"

Image
                              Special K Karissa Choquette came into her first introductory class with a port in her chest for her chemotherapy treatment.  Her Mom only asked that partners take care not to damage it during training because it had to stay in during her chemo treatments for her cancer. Karissa trained alongside all the teens and adults in each class with no worries about whatever special needs she might need or be entitled to because of her condition. Her training was always enthusiastic and the smile on her face was always there.  For a long time, no one even knew of her medical condition and we always treated her just like all the other students. As her training progressed she really connected with many of the students instructors and teens in the school.  It was a pleasure to see how great she did.  Karissa was able to go through the rigorous Black Belt training and achieved first dan in Tang Soo Do.  The support the entire school showed was outstanding Thanks for lett
Read more