the rum soaked fist: internal martial arts forum

When I open my school I am considering to award badges for things like dedication, knowledge of the system, fighting prowess, knowledge of Chinese culture and language (my wife and I will also give Chinese lessons and perhaps arrange study tours to China), technical ability, Wude (martial morality), weapons proficiency and full transmission. There wouldn't necessarily be an order to receive them in, except for full transmission. Advancements would be based upon my long-term observation.

I may rank different levels of fighting prowess. Then level one could be something like ability to use core techniques in sparring. Level two could be ability to use core techniques in fluid combinations. Level three could be ability to express internal power whilst sparring. Level four could be ability to use advanced techniques in sparring. I would keep a list on my website of badge holders, especially full transmission, for transparency and to ensure quality.

I will not award myself badges, just wear a different uniform or label myself as the instructor. In this way students can look to one another for advice and see clearly where everyone is at. If another student doesn't have the badge, then don't ask them for advice on the subject. Full transmission could have its own uniform instead of a badge, in case students want to start franchise schools or whatever.

I will also separate them into students and disciples, as promised to my master. There are certain things that he will not allow me to teach just anyone, so being accepted as a disciple will be a badge unto itself, possibly the first badge. I'll let students call me Laoshi, or teacher, whether they are disciples or not. Or just my name. Haven't decided yet. I want to avoid confusion, in-fighting, cult-like behaviour, delusion, etc. The badges won't be handed out like flyers. They will mark a significant achievement and presented for all to see.

What do you gents think?

Why not just use Sanda/Sanshou tournament record to judge your students? This way they have to test their skill in the ring if they want to stay in your system.

Because there are many aspects that one can pursue and excel in and I'd like to recognise that, whilst also striking down delusion. I will try to cooperate with different schools or at least different branches like back here in China and do a lot of sparring. Advancement is based on my long-term observation of a student, not just their performance on one day.

If a student doesn't have any badges for fighting prowess, everyone will see that.

MaartenSFS wrote:Because there are many aspects that one can pursue and excel in and I'd like to recognise that, whilst also striking down delusion.

I normally don't like badges or belts in general, and I entered this thread with a semi negative vibe. But then after reading it, I actually really like your idea, primarily for the part quoted above.

A lot of people may say that it's easy to know who to go to in your martial arts family, but this isn't always true. TCMA is full of people who cultivate various useful skills with various intentions and motivations for training. Sometimes this can be dangerous, for example, when you have a guy with good stances pretending he can fight because of his deep stances when really he can't. But you already mentioned striking down delusions, and as long as you do that, I think it's great for students to know which person to go to for flexibility training, for fighting tips, for conditioning training, for dieting help, and even for applications that stray far from fighting. In a way, this also lets you know who to "avoid" for certain types of advice, which can also be really helpful.

Maybe this all just stuck out to me because of my own past, but at one point in time I was definitely the type to ignore and sometimes even belittle anything said by my own kung fu brothers or friends who couldn't prove themselves in some sort of sparring. It's a bad habit and your badge system seems to help avoid it.

though I should add: It's worth considering that badges are often seen as corny, especially in the world of TCMA. Though I may be generalizing based on my own experiences.

What happens when you aren't able to teach everyone? You might need a system so that teachers you train can give badges?

Thanks for commenting. Yes, that is exactly why I want to implement it like this, to discourage ego-trippers, praise those that are knowledgeable and/or proficient fighters and unmask LARPers. They won't be silly, just a simple badge with Chinese characters.

I could even have badges for specific skills.

everything wrote:What happens when you aren't able to teach everyone? You might need a system so that teachers you train can give badges?

Perhaps, but it's a bit too soon to start dreaming that far ahead..

It may be good to group badges into intermediate and advanced groups and students in the advanced group can help me observe the lesser students and give badge recommendations.

Ideally the whole system can be learned within three years, though.

I'm not a big fan belts and stuff like that. I spoke with my teacher about it once, and he said as far as your pedigree in CMA, it's "who did you learn from, for how long, and what can you show me". With a focus being on the last one. Even if some of the flavor is different, the characteristics can still be seen. I will say that as far as belts or sashes go, I think BJJ does it right. They make the progress of getting a blat belt truly worth saying you have it. It's really common in America for a black belt to be earned in a year or slightly under. Then another rank each year until at the 3th to 5th dan. Then it slows down a little.

I've thought that badges would be a neat idea. In my TKD class we did something like that. We had a wall with cards. The cards held a lot of information. The days you were scheduled (paid for). They also had other things too, one of them being like badges. They just weren't physical, they were different stamps. Some of them did have badges, which were just something that could be sewn onto your gi. Have you thought about uniforms too possibly?

huh? it takes longer to get black belts in the West than in Japan in judo, dunno about other arts, mainly because in the West we think of shodan as an end, not as a beginning degree:
https://www.reddit.com/r/judo/comments/ ... k_belt_in/

I'm not sure about uniforms yet. We'll see. There is the question of where to put the badges. Perhaps the top badge-holders get a photo on the wall with their badges next to it, or sewn on the back of the uniform.

Have you looked at a bjj gi recently? They are an unsightly mess. We know who has skill when we touch hands with them. Belts are to hold up your pants and badges are what they give kids when they can tie a knot or swim across a lake. And when those kids turn 18 the badges go in a drawer and are never looked at again.

In my experience adults behave similarly to children, especially when egos are involved..

MaartenSFS wrote:When I open my school I am considering to award badges for things like dedication, knowledge of the system, fighting prowess, knowledge of Chinese culture and language (my wife and I will also give Chinese lessons and perhaps arrange study tours to China), technical ability, Wude (martial morality), weapons proficiency and full transmission. There wouldn't necessarily be an order to receive them in, except for full transmission. Advancements would be based upon my long-term observation.

I may rank different levels of fighting prowess. Then level one could be something like ability to use core techniques in sparring. Level two could be ability to use core techniques in fluid combinations. Level three could be ability to express internal power whilst sparring. Level four could be ability to use advanced techniques in sparring. I would keep a list on my website of badge holders, especially full transmission, for transparency and to ensure quality.

I will not award myself badges, just wear a different uniform or label myself as the instructor. In this way students can look to one another for advice and see clearly where everyone is at. If another student doesn't have the badge, then don't ask them for advice on the subject. Full transmission could have its own uniform instead of a badge, in case students want to start franchise schools or whatever.

I will also separate them into students and disciples, as promised to my master. There are certain things that he will not allow me to teach just anyone, so being accepted as a disciple will be a badge unto itself, possibly the first badge. I'll let students call me Laoshi, or teacher, whether they are disciples or not. Or just my name. Haven't decided yet. I want to avoid confusion, in-fighting, cult-like behaviour, delusion, etc. The badges won't be handed out like flyers. They will mark a significant achievement and presented for all to see.

What do you gents think?

From my impression of other post's you have written, this does not sound like you, are you jesting?

On the other hand, you seem very determinated to become a teacher and open a school, and I guess you want it to be comersially successful.