Does this sound right..what instructor said?

**omoplatypus** · Posted On: 3/10/2010 11:37am

that happened to me in WTF. i started as a white belt, then skipped yellow, orange, and green into blue. then i skipped purple and brown into red. then i hit recommended black, all in about 7 months.

**TheWanderingTaoist** · Posted On: 3/10/2010 4:19pm

Originally Posted by White Kimbo

that happened to me in WTF. i started as a white belt, then skipped yellow, orange, and green into blue. then i skipped purple and brown into red. then i hit recommended black, all in about 7 months.

How did you do that? I'm WTF BB and trying to transfer to another WTF school and I get told there's the evaluation fee and you will probably be made a blue or red belt. I thought if you stayed within your own federations system your rank meant something, but apparently not.

**TheWanderingTaoist** · Posted On: 3/10/2010 4:40pm

Originally Posted by MMAMickey

Quick! scurry back to newbietown where you are safe!

..But seriously, save yourself the money, say '**** you and your expensive TKD' and go do some kickboxing. especially seeing as you clearly have an interest in it

In answer to both posts.. the Vale Tudo thing is hilarious and I hope the other guy was joking. Very disrespectful. Not to mention she could easily kick my ass as she is a former Korean national champion and Olympic coach.

The kickboxing I am currently doing is not the Muay Thai kind. Its the aerobic kickboxing type done at home because its a fun way to lose weight quickly and get some cardio because I find treadmills boring. The only kickboxing place in town is doing what I'm doing they aren't Muay Thai either. There is no schools of any substance in this area. Actually sad there are tons more schools than the town I lived in before where I studied with a Korean grandmaster and got my BB. However the ones in this town are all ATA type, tai chi and Kung Fu. There's not even a judo school! Hence I study alone doing what I was taught by my grandmaster. Except it would help to have a sparring partner. I have not been successful in meeting anyone in this lame town who does serious martial arts only very deadly kung fu. :tellme: There is absolutely no Asian community to speak of in this town, so I suspect that is one reason the schools suck.

Oh I should say I did make one friend who studies some apparently rare Japanese style. I don't even remember the name because I had never heard of it before. Its not sparring or grappling. If I understood correctly it is only the study of "drawing the sword"??? He drives 250 miles each way to visit the sword school once a week.

**TheWanderingTaoist** · Posted On: 3/10/2010 4:59pm

I only want to study with her I think because I'm female and have never been around a high ranking female, let alone someone who has been an Olympic coach. So thought it would be cool to train under a female grandmaster and see if she teaches from a different perspective. Plus she comes from Jidokwan originally so I felt her techniques might be different than what I have been taught. Not that I want to get in the Olympics, lol, I'm much too old for that. I just find some of the training methods of whipping people into good physical condition intriquing and I want to get in very strong condition as much as I want to learn martial arts. She did kinda talk like she would do hapkido with me even though she doesn't teach it per se but she did study it in Korea.

I could just move back instead to the town where my original instructor is. But even though he is great you mostly get stuck with training under his master instructor students and they all in the past had sucky attitudes and didn't want women in their class. Heck I used to work at the place helping run the office since I was a green belt and yet I was often told "we don't want any women in the class tonight" when I stepped onto the mat. There was a few BB women over the years but they all left before reaching 2nd dan because the men's attitudes their made it impossible to learn much. I really don't think its like that everywhere especially not these days. I think it had to do with the part of the country I was in and women were/are just second class citizens there. I love the art; I love the challenge of martial arts and that's why I want to get back into it because there is a void in my life without it.

I may see if I can study with both of them and just travel occasionally to her school and wear whatever belt she wants me to. I just don't want to get stuck in white belt class again where they struggle to do just the warmups or studying in a class full of kids. I want to be in the BB class where I can learn new things. The evaluation fee is crapola IMHO. However her area apparently has been struck hard by massive unemployment and she may be struggling keeping her schools open and bills paid in these times where fewer people have disposable income to study things like MAs.

**Alucard619** · Posted On: 3/10/2010 10:29pm

Originally Posted by White Kimbo

that happened to me in WTF. i started as a white belt, then skipped yellow, orange, and green into blue. then i skipped purple and brown into red. then i hit recommended black, all in about 7 months.

Uh....wow. How did all this happen?

**omoplatypus** · Posted On: 3/10/2010 11:02pm

i had been in tae kwon do since i was 12. all i had to do was learn new forms. one test i took with an injured hamstring. all they wanted to see was that i knew the forms and could punch through my quota of boards.

damn mcdojos.....

**Ronin.74** · Posted On: 3/11/2010 9:00am

If she is running a WTF school than your BB should still be valid, she does not have the power to de-rank you, your rank should be transferable.

Now since you haven't trained in a while she can evaluate where your skill level is currently, than she knows how far you need to go before you get your skills back to BB level and how much practice you need before you can test for your next rank.

Charging you a fee to evaluate though is BS, to me it sounds like she is trying to make some money off of you right from the start since she isn't the one who tested you.

**omoplatypus** · Posted On: 3/11/2010 9:58am

if it's WTF to WTF i don't see the problem. do you have a kukkiwon cert for your rank? if you do, and she's still trying to de rank you, then bail on that school.

sounds like she's trying to screw you with testing fees to get you back to black.

**Daniel Sullivan** · Posted On: 4/09/2010 12:45pm

Originally Posted by TheWanderingTaoist

I inquired a few times at a different WTF TKD school in another state. I was told that she won't allow me to keep my black belt.

One of the often touted benefits of being a Kukkiwon black belt is portability of rank. Technically, it is a Kukkiwon belt, not a WTF belt, and if you have a Kukkiwon cert, she should be able to check its validity on the Kukkiwon website.

Originally Posted by TheWanderingTaoist

She also said I would be charged a fee to evaluate me to see what rank I am at her school, but that most likely I would be put in the blue/red belt class which is like intermediate level at that school. I've never heard of being charged a fee to be evaluated just to join a new school. So the 6 years I studied TKD before was worthless I guess.

Evaluating you is entirely reasonable. The fee, however is fishy.

It is either her own way of making money from a student that she was not able to charge any colored belt testing fees or BB testing fee to, or she is charging for her time. Either way, she comes off like she has her hand out.

If her fee is twenty bucks or less to cover her time in a private evaluation, then it might be worth the chump change if you want to train with her badly enough.

Daniel

**Permalost** · Posted On: 4/12/2010 2:28pm

Originally Posted by TheWanderingTaoist

I was told that she won't allow me to keep my black belt. She also said I would be charged a fee to evaluate me to see what rank I am at her school, but that most likely I would be put in the blue/red belt class which is like intermediate level at that school.

Based on this, it sounds to me like even though she wants to evaluate you, keeping your black belt is out of the question. This part about most likely blue/red sounds like she's already evaluated you without ever seeing what you do, and this is a red flag for me. Sounds like she has a high opinion of her school, and whether or not this is warranted, she should actually wait to see your TKD before speculating where you belong.