After last night, my dad and I have been talking about it, and we started to come up with ways to support our opinion (letting kids test for their black belt, no matter what age). The end result sounded like this: "I think kids should be able to test for their black belt because kids have the ability to train just like adults. They may not be able to do the same things in some cases, but can push just as hard and put the same amount of effort as an adult would. If the argument is not being able to fulfill certain requirements due to age restrictions, would that mean older people couldn't test for their black belt either? Both age groups have the ability to PUSH as hard as an adult tester would. To me, it's not about doing each specific requirement, but is about putting the same amount of effort into it if you can't do the same exact requirments."
Please post your thoughts on this topic because I have a feeling we are going to have to support our opinion and I would like to hear everyone's ideas to make 1 big presentation about this.
Grayson,
ReplyDeleteFirst congratulations on taking the lead on this subject for your age group.
I just thought I would give you my 2 cents worth here.
It seems to me the real issue here is the maturity level of the individuals involved in this process. So one person could be ready to be a black belt at 11 years old and another person may not be ready at 58 years old. So far as that goes some people may never be ready.
I think this test is about commitment to a goal not about how many push ups, sit ups, miles, hours of training, etc are logged. Having said that one of the ways we can display that commitment is to do the above requirements as they have been laid out for us.
We have been lectured on this concept numerous times during this test. As a matter of fact that was the point of Master Callos's training session with us last Thursday in my opinion.
One thing I think we need to keep in mind is if we are having issues it is ABSOLUTELY ESSENTIAL we talk to someone (BKJN Dan or KJN Jeremy) about them when they come up. Communications is essential. I have encountered very few problems in my life that haven't been resolved quickly and fairly if I have discussed it with the appropriate people when it was a small problem. Once it has been discussed then some sort of corrective action usually follows.
Try to remember a part of owning our test is being responsible enough to know what is expected and when it is due.
Anyway hope this helps.
Keep up the good work Grayson.
Steven Cason