Belt Testing Fees

[cafezinho]

No fee, no belts. The test is each time you step into the roda.

[Roidie McDouchebag]

He is funny as hell. He is also one tough SOB. Do you know him as well?

No, he was supposed to do seminars at my old school a bunch of times, but things came up I guess and he never came...everybody there who had met him had a good impression of him though, and by extention so did I. But I think in Shootfighting he is kind like Rickson is to BJJ...people have a ridiculously overinflated opinion of him. For instance...I don't think he KO'ed Shamrock legitimately...although he seems to claim he did. Also, copyrighting the word "Shootfighting" is pretty silly...the term existed before he ever used it and him copyrighting it means a lot fewer people know what it is or what it means. He holds back the guys in the organization IMO...he could do so much good but he just tries to dominate everything too much.

[CanuckMA]

Mox,

Most styles, average to BB is 5 years. So can a new style promote 10 BB in 10 years? Easy. You know nothing about Punisher or his school. STFU.

[pbradish]

Belt testing fees seem wrong, shouldn't that be included in the training fee? Seems like they are milking some of you guys no offence.

[CrimsonTiger]

You pay for your driving instruction. But you still have to pay for your driver's test, right?

There's nothing wrong with paying for something. In fact, it lets you measure the worth of what you are learning against what you pay. If I pay nothing, then I can't really complain if I don't feel I'm learning very much. Obviously this can be abused, but if you're semi-intelligent and trust yourself and your instincts, you'll know when to run.

I could easily be a 2nd dan by now if I had stayed with my karate training. My fighting skills are far better than any other karate person in the dojo (admittedly, it's not a fighting dojo, but then again Goju isn't exactly into Kyukoshin-style sparring anyway). Just would need to brush up some kata and I'd be nidan. And I'd be short another 5 notes.

No thank you. At this point, not worth it. I already pay my 600 a year to learn how to hit people full force. :D

[cyrijl]

yeah my km school charged $50 which was the test and a certificate...but it seemed to be a more, whenever you can get it to me feeling. My instructors are trying to make this a full time job (plus seminars) so it never really bothered me. Plus, not everyone passes.

[OC Kid]

Just curious what happens if you fail the test? Do you get your money back or get retested for free??? My neighbor paid 450 bucks for his B/B in TKD he is all of 15 1/2 Y.O. Now if he failed and had to pay again he'd be paying 900 bucks for his belt...Hmmmmm

[EternalRage]

"A system that has been around for less then ten years with more then ten "black belts" is obvious crap."

Moxy_Moxy, now it's really hard to tell if a school is mcdojo just by the above statement. Just send Bunyip or someone to check it out.

My dojang - no test fees, 0 black belts (other than the instructor). Actually we have no fees whatsoever, not even for classes. Rather nice on the wallet.

I used to do Wing Chun (Cheung) and tests were like 75 bux per sash (then again we only had 2 sashes green and black) and then 150 bux for the instructors exam. Paid about 1200 flat for 2-3 years classes. A little hard on the wallet.

Ah and then I did TKD for about 2 1/2 yr. 2000 dollars. Fuck. About 50 bucks per belt, and there were 10 belts. Fuck Fuck. Then the black belt test was like 320 bux. Fuck fuck fuck.

[EternalRage]

errr meant my dojang as in the dojang i go to now (i'm not an instructor)

[Punisher]

Punisher you said in an other thread that your style has been around for less then ten years and there are more then ten black belts at your school!!!

Welcome to McDojoville population: You

No hard feelings. Although I never said my school was less than ten year old, only what we teach there. To add on to/clarify what Reboot said, my instructor started teaching American Kenpo in 1986. I became black belt number #9 in 1991. As a school gets older, the rate of new black belts tends to increase. Now before you say that's because of an obvious lowering of standards in a blatant attempt to make more money, I'll clue you in on the real reason. It's pretty basic, if you think about it. Every black belt is a potential instructor that can spawn more black belts.

Some people hear "106" and think that still have suspiciously high number. Maybe it is. It's still less than 1% of the people that have signed up for training over the lifetime of the school.

When my instructor made the swicth to his own stuff, the only person that lost his rank was him. He's a sixth degree BB in American Kenpo, but as founder of the system, he has no offical rank in Five Animal Kenpo. He didn't bother to give himself a 10th or 15th or anything like that. Everyone else stayed where they were at. It was a pretty big deal five or so years later, when the school promoted the first black belt that had trained exclusively in the new system.

I suppose I could have kept my rank too, but the way I looked at it, it was a was a completely new system, and since I was away at college when they made the transition, I might as well start from scratch. In October I'll have been training in Five Animal Kenpo for 4 years. If everything goes right, I'll test for my black belt next June. If I pass, I'll be the first person in my school's history to recieve separate black belts in the two systems.

I'll say one more thing, before apologizing for highjacking Warhogg's thread. I really don't think my school in anything special. The standards are sufficently high, but no where near the personal standards I hold myself to. We have some quality instructors and provide a good product, but most people don't train that hard and you won't likely find many UFC prospects in our ranks. I don't kid myself about who I am and what my school is. In terms of learning how to fight there is no comparision between my school and a quality MMA, MT, or boxing gym. If that makes us a mcdojo, fine, but not everyone is cut out to train in places like that. And if you are going to train in a mcdojo, you could do a lot worse than my school.

[Clyde]

Originally posted by Punisher
He's a sixth degree BB in American Kenpo, but as founder of the system, he has no offical rank in Five Animal Kenpo. He didn't bother to give himself a 10th or 15th or anything like that. .

Uhh, last known rank at Larry's was 4th, you don't happen to know where he got the 5th or 6th do ya?

Clyde

[Mox_Mox]

Originally posted by EternalRage

Moxy_Moxy, now it's really hard to tell if a school is mcdojo just by the above statement. Just
send Bunyip or someone to check it out.

I don't think it is. A brand new system should not be cranking out black belts for a while. Even if you have great students promoting guys fast in a young system is dangerous. It is now clear that Pun and Reboot are coming from a much larger base then a newly created system. But I stick by my statement that a BRAND NEW system should not be cranking out BB for a while so they can figure themselves out. So if they do it makes them shady.

[osopardo]

Just the cost of the belt, no testing fee for any level.

[Warhogg]

Hey punisher - don't feel bad about the slight 'divergence' It has been an interesting read anyway. It was good to hear more about your kenpo style.

Going back to topic - It is good to hear that most of the people here aren't paying for rank. All though some good points were made when people have to pay for extra time/materials for their test.

[inde]

Originally posted by Clyde
Uhh, last known rank at Larry's was 4th, you don't happen to know where he got the 5th or 6th do ya?

Clyde

I think once you pass fourth black it becomes keMpo.