Not many topics in martial arts create so much dispute.
They should be a higher grade, he does not deserve that grade, gradings are money making events for the instructors, I failed and I should of passed, I am a higher grade than you so you must do what I say, I was unable to test and now I have to wait a year.
As an instructor you can’t please all the people, all the time but as long as you are fair and open with everything then the rest is up to individuals.
Gradings for children is another major quarrelling point in martial arts. It’s generally considered that children earn a junior grade and then when they are an adult they retest for senior grade. There are always exceptions to the norm but the general view is that children don’t have the same physical, emotional and mental capacity that adults do.
Anyway, look out for a full YouTube ramble on grading pros and cons coming soon.
Last night I was extremely happy to award two of our juniors (under 16s) another grade. Abu was awarded Junior Purple Sash and Aston was awarded Junior Brown Sash. Myself like many traditional (old! lol) instructors could be considered very tight when giving out grades and this is probably best left to another YouTube ramble. To put Abu and Aston’s achievement into context, they have both trained since a very young age (most of their life) and trained throughout the pandemic in the parks and on zoom. They train multiple times per week with adult students, can perform empty hand and weapons forms to a high standard and spar with all other adult students.
At Moi Fa I try and maintain the highest standards and Black Sashes and Black Belts are few and far between but the Black Sash/Belt list is growing. I look forward to awarding more next year.
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