The Ultimate Black Belt Test: My Suggestions to the Industry and a Protest of Sorts

I don’t like to complain, although I do it from time to time. When something’s not right, I prefer to acknowledge the issue quickly, and then develop possible solutions.

The Ultimate Black Belt Test (UBBT) is a program of possible solutions to a variety of problems in the martial arts industry. Such as:

1. Stupid Black Belt Tests

Is it too harsh to call some Black Belt tests stupid? Perhaps, but after seeing or hearing more than my fair share of tests (and giving a couple really stupid ones myself), I decided that the industry could do better. I started to improve testing, with a longer process, an expansion of test requirements, and standards that require the candidate to quantify his or her practice.

I have occasionally called the UBBT the most difficult Black Belt test in the world, which has caused a few people to claim that their test is harder. One fellow told me he doesn’t let his people eat or drink for three days, while their doing their 72-hour test. I had to agree that his test was probably harder-but certainly not smarter. A Black Belt test shouldn’t be a weekend of severe torture; it should be a yearlong process of mild torture that builds healthy, habitual and lifelong changes in people’s behavior.

2. Curriculum that Has Nothing to Do with a Person’s Life, Ambitions or Goals

There isn’t a 90+ percent dropout rate from White Belt to Black Belt because of how challenging it is to earn a Black Belt. Most students are lost because classes are so dead-dog-boring that students want to leave. The curriculum requirements are often so archaic, so irrelevant to the world today, and so incongruent with the lives of most students-no wonder the industry struggles with student retention.

One possible solution is to integrate students’ personal objectives into their test curriculum. In the UBBT, not only is there some “customization” allowed (strongly encouraged) in the test process, but also each participant is encouraged to complete 10 Personal Victories, as a part of their test requirements.

Imagine that! Students would be allowed to choose, to ADD to their test requirements that hold meaning in their lives! Not only would students then be able to satisfy the teacher’s expectations, but also they would actually be able to do and accomplish things that are important to them. Yes!

3. Students Doing Curriculum that is Scary Stupid

I can still see it in my mind’s eye: The guy is about 50, maybe older. He’s on the testing floor with about 20 other students, most of them younger than 19. They’re all doing jump kicks-the kids are really flying, and this old fellow, with knee braces, is trying to keep up. Every time he tries another running jump kick, I cringe, waiting for something bad to happen. Well, it never did, thank goodness, but that event (and my hip replacement surgeries) left me with an understanding that curriculum has to be adjusted for the student, not the other way around. “You don’t fit the person to the shoe; you fit the shoe to the person.”

In the UBBT, like it should be in your testing process, I don’t want anyone doing anything that isn’t right for his or her body. Just because you can’t do jump kicks-or even spar (one of our testers had had brain surgery!) -doesn’t mean you can’t practice and advance as a martial artist.

Unqualified Black Belts

The UBBT is a bit of a protest too, against Black Belt testing that results in sloppy, ill prepared and under-practiced Black Belts. We would be doing ourselves a big favor, if we tightened our belts a little bit, and re-evaluated the what, when, how and why of Black Belt testing.

The UBBT has about 28 rather innovative suggestions for improving the testing process (see them by going to ultimateblackbelttest.com and then “Test Requirements.” If you’d like to suggest some others, feel free to e-mail me at tomcallos@gmail.com.