San Do Kuen Martial Arts

San Do Kuen Martial Arts is a student-focused program.  We encourage students to cultivate and refine the skills that are the most applicable and appropriate for them as individuals.  Every student, regardless of what curriculum path they are on, must understand that developing martial arts skills is a life-long effort, not merely a requirement for getting a new belt.  Ranking systems are necessary and important for beginners because it helps them feel a sense of accomplishment.  After a student has trained long enough to reach an intermediate or advanced level, their focus should be on refining their skills, not for the sake of rank, but because that is what training is all about.

Our training program is not designed around the belt system, rather, the belt system is there for those who need it to stay motivated.  Regardless of a student’s goals or ambitions, the work that it takes to develop skill is a constant.  Whether a student is motivated by belts or not is somewhat irrelevant.  At some point, every person will realize that martial arts training is very difficult.  No matter how long a person trains or how proficient they become, it will still take hard work to improve.

THE BLACK BELT PROBLEM

In the West, we have made the black belt a symbol of achievement and skill.   This is not necessarily a bad thing, but it does create a Black Belt Problem:

1. There are no universal standards for the rank of black belt. In some schools, an average person with no prior experience can get a black belt in one year.  Many schools standard for black belt is attendance only.  In other programs it may take the average person between 3-5 years to earn a black belt.  Some schools require black belts to fulfill fitness requirements, others do not.  This lack of consistency, in some ways, invalidates the black belt as a universally applicable standard of competence.
2. Because of the special significance we place on this rank, many people who earn black belts decide that they no longer need to train hard.  Some people assume that because they hold a black belt in one system, that they now understand the entire martial arts world.
3. Once a person gets a black belt we assume they are an expert and we look to them for answers. Instead of looking to black belts for all the answers, students should see them a guides on a long journey.  A guide can’t tell you what leads down every road, he can only show you the way he has been.

This problem then spirals out of control as many black belts assume that they can instantly become instructors based on their rank alone.  The fact is that teaching is another distinct skill set and most black belts do not naturally posses the skills to become good teachers.  All these issues combined to a lot of misunderstandings about what martial arts skill is and how it is acquired.