Percentage reaching black belt?.

arybvtcw0eolkf

Nothing too serious lads, but was looking back over some Judo photos and I got to thinking about the lads who dropped off by the way side and either didn't continue with martial arts or changed style.

So, for craic sake imagine in a single year a club gets 40 new members through its doors - how many would you imagine stay with that club or style to reach their black belt?.

I'm thinking less than 10%.

Probably close to 80-90% got through their lower kyu's, then by blue and brown there was a rapid drop off as the intensity of preparing for tougher gradings came up.

I'm on my brown and knocking away at points off my black belt, and only one lad from around the same time I begun has stayed the course.. However he's dropped out in the last few months, but I'm trying to drag him back - it would be great to see a mate who I began with complete the journey with me.

So, precentage wise - whats your guess, or what would your experience tell you?.

silat liam

I say nowadays around 2 - 3% make it to Black belt, it use to be around 8 to 10% but the attitude of learning something properly and actually train has disappeared, alongside many pressure people are actually under, means few get to that Level.

Thou the other side of the argument is that, the number of people who seem to be getting black belts with in a few months on online programme and long distance seems to be rising, which is only lowering the standard of what being a Black Belt is

Gumbi

I can't speak for Judo, but where I train, I'd say less than 5%.

smacl

I did some Wado Ryu in the 80s, kept it up for slightly less than two years, and was the last person to drop out of the twenty or so who started with me.

Did about ten years of practical taiji after this, but there's no belts, just competitions. Of the crew I started with, Niall Keane is the last man standing, and bringing the next generation through the ranks. I still train the odd time with my original instructor, but not often enough to call myself a regular practitioner.

Unpossible

5% apparently :pac:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JO6P8NmkJqc

I'm not sure for HanMooDo but its quite low, I know there was a lot of clubs like ours where we didn't have any black belt for a few years (when I was training in Finland) and obviously we don't have any in Ireland yet.

antybots

In our TKD school nearly everyone gets to blue belt and then drops out. Comparing the number of blackbelts produced to the average number of members in the school it seems around 15% make all the way top black and then 80% of those black belts drop out and do something else.

Gumbi

antybots wrote: »

In our TKD school nearly everyone gets to blue belt and then drops out. Comparing the number of blackbelts produced to the average number of members in the school it seems around 15% make all the way top black and then 80% of those black belts drop out and do something else.

That's fairly high.

Burnt

I have been involved with a university Judo club for about 8/9 years.
Form the records a few years back I worked out at it about 2-4%.

The variation seems to arise as some groups bond better than others, are
a bit tougher and drive each other on, through internal competitiveness.

There is also some unfortunate wastage due to injuries and disease e.g.
knee injuries, arthritis and cartilage degeneration and fractures, these
tend to be more pronounce among the upper kyus which is a pity.


Overall this would be a bit lower than regular clubs because of the turn
over in members, people tend to reach blue/brown at around final year
and then move on.

antybots

Gumbi wrote: »

That's fairly high.

It's not too hard to get a black belt in TKD once you train regularly and are seen to make an effort. There are more than a few TKD blackbelts in my association who are not up to much but whose limitations were overlooked at their grading because they gave it their best shot, trained regularly and helped out at the school. I don't agree with it at all which is part of why I stopped training TKD.

Hanley

What's the average time to get a black belt in Judo? What about TKD? (assuming say 4x per week training year round)

antybots

TKD takes 3-4 years to get to black assuming 4x per week training and depending how often gradings are held.

Hanley

Hanley wrote: »

What's the average time to get a black belt in Judo? What about TKD? (assuming say 4x per week training year round)

I'd reckon about 5 years in jud.o Really depends on the individual though. Some people aren't co-ordinated, some people are lazy, some people are weak or slow for their size, they'll take longer. Another issue for judo is that you have to fight for your belt in open weight matches, so being big helps.

Sid_Justice

jesus illegalheadbutt give me a break i'm not that bad

Doug Cartel

Four years now and I'm only on my green.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YAxTTt7BDq4

Pingu

In Judo can be broken in two distinct categories, the competitive Judoka and the recreational Judoka.

Of the competitive judoka quiet a large number hit Dan grades. Not because that's their goal, but because they train harder and compete more. This however is not to say however they are better judoka, I mean I got my Dan grade with two main throws. The reason then you do better in gradings is the sharpness because you compete more, you are quicker to exploit holes in another's game and know when to back off, not being over defensive but knowing when to engage, and the best way to move off attacks.

However if you are a recreational judoka and you only measure yourself on attaining the next grade you'll be very disappointed and ultimately stop trying due to getting close or getting wiped out in a grading by a sharper competitive judoka. Some Kyu grades can be far more skilled than some dan grades but just bottle it on competition and grading days and treat it like training, obvioulsy this is a skill set that they are missing that edge of leaving it all out there. This is not to say the competeive judoka is necessarily better, certainly they are in the competitive enviroment initially but they'll platau very quickly.

I achieved a level of competitiveness where i was very one dimensional and have had to remove myself from that scene for a year to work on my technical side. While I have my Dan grade I've had to break it back to basics to allow my whole game to progress.

I guess the main point of this ramble is people need to stop thinking about grades and develop both their competitive side and skill side in parallel. If people keep training with a good focus eventually the two sides will marry up, but it's which do you want to achieve first is the question. If you stick with the sport you'll achieve both, but it's about balancing achievable goals so you dont become disillusioned with your sport.