One of the most universally recognised images of Martial Arts achievement is the black belt. However, it is not as widely used as you may think. Many traditional Martial Arts do not use this ranking system and in some forms of Kung Fu the belt is only really there to prevent hernias or protect the abdomen. In fact the black belt only dates back to the 19th century, so is a relatively recent addition to the martial arts journey. It is not within the scope of this article to cover the history of the black belt however, that is worthy of a book, but what does need discussion is the modern day black belt, it’s dilution and current standing.
Martial Arts, Combat Sports and Boxing have never been more popular. You’ll probably struggle to find many children who haven’t at least done one karate, judo, kickboxing or tae-kwon-do class. The popularity of the UFC and MMA in general has brought Martial Arts further forwards in peoples minds. Love it or hate it, as some traditional Martial Artists do, you can’t deny the impact that Mixed Martial Arts has had on participation numbers in Martial Arts throughout the world. In the UK alone many gyms are putting their MMA class numbers on par with the more traditional sport of Boxing. More people taking part is great, but there are also some concerning side effects. One of these is the rise in the number of black belts being awarded.
A Black Black being given out isn’t a bad thing, let’s clear that up. However, when people are picking them up after only two years of training then something is going very wrong. I’ve seen Martial Arts clubs guaranteeing a Black Belt within two years with a weekly training session. Damn, with a few holiday periods you are talking about getting a Black Belt in less than 100 training sessions! The term McDojo is well known by now. The idea that you turn up, pay your money and get your belts. But why?
Probably the biggest reason is money. Good old capitalism. Like anything, if you have a product that people really want, they’ll pay for it and people sure want a black belt. What they also want is a black belt now, or yesterday ideally. We are in time of participation medals and non-competitive school sports, where everybody is a winner and nobody has to lose. So you being rubbish at Martial Arts doesn’t matter anymore. It doesn’t matter if you couldn’t hit water if you fell out of a boat, or have the cardio of a chain smoker, you can do it! Yay! The McDojo prays on these people. Regular gradings, regular progression (not necessarily physically or mentally) and in not too much much time, hey presto, you’re Chuck Norris. Sadly this approach leaves a lot of people with a lot of confidence and not much to back it up.
So, are gradings bad? You could infer from this that part of the problem is the process of grading itself. Nowadays people pay money, and they expect results. I have experienced this many times whilst training people. They want to lose weight, gain muscle, whatever. They pay you to train them and advise them. You do. They leave the gym and sit in their car eating a Mars Bar and rubbing donuts over their bodies, despite your diet sheets. What they expect is the money to do the work, it doesn’t. Same applies to Martial Arts. You can’t get great by training once a week for an hour. You need to practice, practice, practice. People don’t expect to fail however when they have paid money, they expect you to pass them. This is especially true of parents who drop their kids off at the doors and have no idea whether their little angel is the next coming of Bruce Lee or in fact Frank Spencer in a Gi. Regardless, the expectation is regular interval grading and black belt in a set time. So why grade? It’s not traditional. Why not just hand out belts to students when they have earned them through training. This informal grading system is used in Ju Jitsu where instructors decide over the course of training whether a student has earning the next rank. As there is no set time scale on this then the only option is for the student to work hard and impress their instructors.
Sadly, we once again return to the issue of money. It’s expensive to run a gym and student turnover is high. Instructors cannot rely on weekly fees alone. This is especially true for those who commit to opening a dedicated facility rather than renting sports halls. Regardless of how you feel about it students need to be kept interested enough to keep coming. If they don’t get those rewards they get discouraged and drop out. It would be great for every club to be full of 100% committed practitioners but few are and the reality is that those kids and adults that turn up, train for a year and drop out help to pay the bills. In good gyms this isn’t a problem because in those places where a Black Belt means something students progress. The instruction is good and even those with little aptitude for Martial Arts will see improvements. Where all this falls down however is back in the McDojo where some pretty poor practitioners are sailing through the gradings on their way to Black Belt.
But who who should get a Black Belt?
Perhaps this is the key question. Who should get a Black Belt? This could be easily answered by saying the hardest working, most committed etc, but is that true? We know that there are people walking around now with Black Belts that didn’t work overly hard for it and are not even that technically skilled either. The Black Belt is being diluted and devalued by the quick fix brigade sure, but another thing to consider is that not everybody who works hard, stays committed and shows reasonable skill should get a that reward either. Is there not an argument that only a certain percentage of people will ever possess the level of mastery that a Black Belt and beyond should symbolise. In football, not everybody can be the striker. But now we find ourselves in a place where the Black Belt has become an expectation of time and money spent. Perhaps it is the beyond, the 2nd, 3rd, 4th Dans which symbolise that commitment now. The hobby Black Black will achieve their cult goal and progress will stop, interest will wain and commitment disappear. The true Martial Artist will carry on.
The reality is that Martial Arts cannot be cheated on. You undoubtedly get what you put in. And whilst the McDojos make their money and churn out their Black Belts the truth is in the sweat, the pain and blood it took to get you there. You know when you’ve earned something and that cannot be taken away from you. There are many Black Belts, but not everybody deserves one.