Martial Arts Professional Magazine

NAPMA and Tom Callos of The Ultimate Black Belt Test (UBBT) have joined forces to bring a new generation of ideas, methods and practices to martial arts schools throughout the U.S. The UBBT, an experimental Black Belt testing project started by Callos in 2004, has become the testing ground for dozens of new ideas and methods for martial arts rank testing, training, school promotion and community activism.

Since its inception, the UBBT has pioneered:

• A full-year testing process, where candidates quantify their practiced repetitions and activities.

• Non-style-specific Black Belt testing, which allows any dedicated martial arts practitioner to advance in rank, regardless of style, if he or she qualifies.

• Online testing diaries, where participants write blogs and produce video journals to record their year-long testing process.

• Custom-designed Black Belt tests that seek to integrate personal and communitybased goals into the testing curriculum.

• Empathy training, where testing candidates literally “walk in the shoes” of others to develop empathy for people living with sight, hearing and mobility challenges.

• The online profiling of 10 Living Heroes as a test requirement.

• The achievement of 10 Personal Victories as a part of each tester’s requirements.

• Required repetitions (rather than months or years trained) as testing obligations, including 52,000 push-ups and sit-ups, 1,000 rounds of sparring, 1.000- mile walk, 1,000 repetitions of a single form and 1,000 acts of kindness.

• Required environmental clean-up projects, as a part of a Callos-designed Environmental Self-Defense Initiative.

• The Righting Wrongs and Mending Relationships requirements, which asks participants to heal old wounds, as a test obligation.

“The UBBT represents an entirely new and innovative paradigm for testing, training and especially school promotion,” said NAPMA’s President, Rob Colasanti.

“What we like best about the UBBT is its emphasis on returning to disciplined training, attention to a healthy diet, community activism and spiritual development. The UBBT’s curriculum sets a high-water mark within our industry and offers a solid counterbalance of ideas and methods to professional teachers who have been investing time in their school management procedures.

We have joined forces to reemphasize the balance between business and giving to students, and life and working on one’s self.”
The UBBT is a 13-month course. Members are required to attend two of four yearly “in the field” events. Events include a four-day eco-adventure/backpacking trip on the Pacific Crest Trail near Lake Tahoe, California; a four-day house-building project with a famous architectural education program in Alabama and two Master’s Weekends where the team travels to either Los Angeles or Seattle to train with various masters and engage in humanitarian projects.

“NAPMA attracts martial arts professionals who want more than just business tips and tactics,” said Callos. “The UBBT honors our traditions in the martial arts world, while at the same time offers new ways to impact our lives and communities that does nothing but good for people who love and teach the martial arts. I’m looking to NAPMA’s resources to help enhance the UBBT testing process. One of our first collaborations will be in the development of a one-year “financial UBBT” that helps school owners to put their financial lives in tip-top shape.”

Callos sites the one-year term of the UBBT to be a realistic investment of time for authentic personal and financial change. “In the end,” said Callos, “the most important aspect of the UBBT/NAPMA collaboration is the investigation of new ways to better teach and promote the martial arts. NAPMA is the tool shed for all things related to professional, sustainable martial arts education and business procedures. When you need to do some work, whether it be on your school or yourself, you want to have the right tools, right when and where you need them. NAPMA is the natural place for the UBBT to reside.”

For more information about the UBBT and special NAPMA member
resources and opportunities, visit NAPMA.com. To keep informed
of development and launch dates of the “Financial UBBT,” send an
email to financefitness@NAPMA.com.