Deciding when you’re ready to grade

We're all on the same ladder, but we don't climb at the same rate

	A happy student is focussed on self-improvement above all else

Recently a student of mine revealed his frustration that a man who had joined a month after him was being considered for his orange belt in the same grading as him. Both men were dedicated, twice-a-week students, and the man’s comment was, “If he’s up for consideration the same time as me, what did that extra month worth of lessons get me?” The situation is not helped by the fact that a man from another dojo who graded to yellow at the same time, has now graded to orange after just three months.

The more I think about his question, the more answers I can find for it. I fully appreciate that he pays good money for a service, and I do my best to provide good tuition for his money, but everyone needs to understand that although in one way karate is like climbing a ladder, with different rungs, just because we all start at the bottom together, does not mean that we all climb the rungs at the same rate.

Students are notoriously bad at judging their own progress or abilities. It’s hard to be impartial about ourselves, especially if we physically feel as though we are doing what is being asked of us. Furthermore, what is being asked for may just be the first step towards a bigger picture. For instance, if I have a student who is dreadful at first kata, with terrible stances, no timing, bad blocks, no kiais,  and all the wrong pattern, I might only start by fixing his stances and his pattern knowledge. After all, there’s no point in overloading him with the half dozen other things that need fixing when he can’t even remember which way to turn! Moreover, receiving a massive amount of correction can be disheartening too. Once he can remember the pattern, and his stances are reasonable, he may conclude that he’s ready for his yellow belt, whilst in fact, he still has other things to work on before he’s ready for the grading.

Now I’m sure if I started a 20 year old man in his prime, and an 80 year lady with a dodgy back at the same time, no one in their right mind would expect them to progress at the same rate, yet they expect exactly that when the age and health gap is not so extreme. Let me spell it out for you; even people of the same age, with identical fitness, are likely to have different abilities. If the person with lesser natural ability wants to keep up, he’s going to have to train harder, smarter, and/ or more often.

Not only that, but people vary their improvement from month to month. I had a guy who was amazing up to yellow belt, but has now been surpassed by all of the others who started with him. Maybe he’ll leapfrog them again in the future – you just can’t tell.

Then of course there’s the man from the other dojo who graded very quickly. If he was an average student, with no prior experience, training once or twice a week, I would pity the fact that he’s graded so early because his sensei is only setting him up for failure. The man may be able get through an orange belt grading quickly, but he’s going to come to a juddering halt at green. Saifa is orders of magnitude harder to learn and perform properly, to say nothing of the fact that his first and second katas would be expected to be of an appropriately higher standard. Almost as bad, even if he does get through his green grading, he’ll develop the expectation that he can always grade quickly, and even with the most exceptional students, I’ve never seen that happen.

Senseis often feel under tremendous pressure to grade students as quickly as possible. We all want to give the reward of gradings to hard-working students, and sometimes o hold up the carrot of a belt to unmotivated students, but almost without exception, when students grade too soon, they pay for it later – either because it’s hard for them to step up to the required training ethic for subsequent belts, or because they end up waiting longer than they’re used to for later belts and then become demotivated. This latter situation can be doubly compounded if they’re kids, because if they’re still young by the time they get to 1^st kyu, it can be a massive step up to pass a black belt grading.

Our zone instructor will not allow stu

dents to grade to black younger than 13 years old unless they are exceptional, and that can be a big ask. Imagine the student who has trained since the age of five – if they get through all the grades quickly, they could conceivably be a 1^st kyu by the age of ten or even younger. Now, instead of passing each grade just reaching standard, they need to be well above it, and it’s like driving into a brick wall! They come to a grinding halt and can be stuck, needing to show maturity and patience, maybe for years.

	We only see a window onto other students’ training; never the entirety of it.

There are so many other factors that contribute to a grading. Perhaps one student trains five times a week to your one or two, but you are unaware of their extra training. Perhaps they practice at home each night, or regularly get the DVDs out to study. Maybe they simply stay in the karate mindset all week, and spend more time pondering what they have been told.

One thing that makes a massive difference is prior experience. If someone has trained for a few years in another style, it’s logical and reasonable that they will have the skills to pass the first few GKR gradings faster than normal.

A few brown belts recently trained at my kids’ class. The kids had never seen the boys before, and one of them pricelessly asked, “Sensei, how come it’s their first lesson and they’re already brown belts?” The fact that the visitors had just performed a near flawless team Karurunfa demonstration for the dojo didn’t tip this lad off that perhaps the boys had a bit of prior experience elsewhere.

Although I’m all for students asking when they’ll be ready to grade (and let’s be honest, it’s a massive motivator for most of us) I really see the importance of how you ask. If you simply say, “Sensei when will I be ready to grade?” the answer could be, “In three months”. Neither of you has gained anything from the exchange and you think it’s only about time. If on the other hand you ask, “Sensei, what do I need to work on for my next grading?” your sensei will consider your karate, and you will be given a list of things that you need to accomplish in order to grade. Now instead of waiting for time to elapse, you can work on acquiring the necessary skills, which is far more constructive. It’s also a tactful way of saying, “Sensei, you haven’t overlooked my grading have you?”

It’s like I keep repeating, you have to want to be the grade, not just simply get the grade.

So next time you’re looking around at people the grade above you, and maybe even wondering why you aren’t the same grade, perhaps you should be wondering, what is it that they do, that you do not?