Advancing in rank

[DanielH]

Hey everyone. Last week on... Friday was it? Anyway, last week my instructor told me that he thinks I'm ready to advance to 9 kyu(?); but today when I spoke with the head instructor he told me he doesn't think I'm ready to take the test. He is going to see how I do on Wednesday before he makes his final decision. Now my problem is that I don't personally think I'm ready, and I'd like to practice for another month before I even start to think about the test. Now if both instructors say they think I'm ready, but I don't, do you guys think I should take it or not?


P.S. -
Sorry about the terrible grammar... I suck at that :(

[Kendo-Militia]

Hey everyone. Last week on... Friday was it? Anyway, last week my instructor told me that he thinks I'm ready to advance to 9 kyu(?); but today when I spoke with the head instructor he told me he doesn't think I'm ready to take the test. He is going to see how I do on Wednesday before he makes his final decision. Now my problem is that I don't personally think I'm ready, and I'd like to practice for another month before I even start to think about the test. Now if both instructors say they think I'm ready, but I don't, do you guys think I should take it or not?


P.S. -
Sorry about the terrible grammar... I suck at that :(
Daniel,

Don't take any rank unless you feel confortable. Some people are different. Rank is everything to them. If you fall under this I feel you have a real low self esteem. Therefore you need something like rank to make you feel better. I will only take a test, rank or for school only when I know I am ready and ace the test. If any sensei tells you they will have to wait to decide, then your not ready to take the test. DOn't take a test thinking damn I wonder if I passed. You want to go and take your rank knowing your going to pass. Just my opinion.

[R A Sosnowski]

Hey everyone. Last week on... Friday was it? Anyway, last week my instructor told me that he thinks I'm ready to advance to 9 kyu(?); but today when I spoke with the head instructor he told me he doesn't think I'm ready to take the test. He is going to see how I do on Wednesday before he makes his final decision. Now my problem is that I don't personally think I'm ready, and I'd like to practice for another month before I even start to think about the test. Now if both instructors say they think I'm ready, but I don't, do you guys think I should take it or not?

P.S. -
Sorry about the terrible grammar... I suck at that :(

Don't sweat the Kyu grades until Ikkyu. The CKF, for example, does not give national tests for under Ikkyu - under-Ikkyu grades are considered "club" grades.

Balance how you feel with the instructors' opinions. If you meet the tech. requirements for grading, consider doing it. There is no shame in not passing. An exam is to measure your capabilities against the bar; sometimes we fall short -there are lessons in that (what needs improving the most, for example). There is an element of challenging yourself here. If you always wait until you are 110% sure you'll pass, then there really isn't much challenge.

Ikkyu and Dan grades are a little more serious affairs -- more is expected of the challengers. You want to be ready, and it is more important at this stage to consider attempting to grade. But again, don't get trapped into waiting for 110%.

HTH.

P.S. Grammar is just English-language Waza -- it can be learned and improved.

[Kendo-Militia]

Sorry, but you have to understand if 1 of your instructors says maybe you are not ready, then you must keep that into consideration. He might be protecting you from failure. I do agree it is a challenge and you must step up for the challenge but if your not ready not only are you wasting your time but the examiners time. Also if you are really not ready for the exam, how does that reflect onto your sensei. I do agree you don't want to get into the 110% trap but if you are only at 50%, you don't want to take the challenge either. I'm not going to enter a marathon if I can only manage to run 15 miles.

[Neil Gendzwill]

Ferpetesake we're talking 9 kyu here, not some holy grail.

If your head instructor says test, test. If you get conflicting advice in this or any other matter, listen to your head instructor.

[R A Sosnowski]

Sorry, but you have to understand if 1 of your instructors says maybe you are not ready, then you must keep that into consideration. He might be protecting you from failure. I do agree it is a challenge and you must step up for the challenge but if your not ready not only are you wasting your time but the examiners time. Also if you are really not ready for the exam, how does that reflect onto your sensei. I do agree you don't want to get into the 110% trap but if you are only at 50%, you don't want to take the challenge either. I'm not going to enter a marathon if I can only manage to run 15 miles.

After 31 years in the Martial Arts, a bunch of black belts, and years of instruction and sitting on promotion boards, I have seen the test/no-test issue from both sides. Sensei are human and do make errors in judgement. One should not treat Sensei's opinions lightly, neither should the be considered Gospel. Blindly following everything that Sensei says is a recipe for disaster.

Ultimately, the test/no-test decision is the student's choice. Hopefully he or she will make one realistically.

Furthermore, you risk or should be risking failure in any examination; otherwise, it's not a true exam IMO.

If Sensei says that you are not ready, then one should be ready to ask why not, and what need to be improved to get ready.

[m_french]

Am I reading this right!?!?!??! what is 9 kyu? I thought the kyu grades started out at 6? Danny boy it's just a test, your sensei says take then take it. You fail you try again and pass it later....show some spirit..... it's o.k. to feel that it's going to be challenging but this "I don't know if I'm ready'" attitude.....c'mon. Nothing ventured nothing gained. throw caution to the wind. laugh in the face of death.....and any other cheezy metaphor that applies can be inserted here. you get the idea or as nike says.....just do it. :beard:

[Raiza]

m_french, this sounds like a commercial kumdo dojo he's at. Is this maybe Old Warrior's SMK school group or HMK? That would explain the grading scheme and what he's paying.

I have to pay 147 a month until I get a contract. After that it will depend on how long I ge the contract for... I think 120 a month with a six month contract and 100 a month if I get one for one year.

That's a lot. DanielH, just do your best. If you can convince your head instructor to change his mind by working hard and improving, then go for the test. This test is probably going to be held in-house so it's going to need the head instructor's approval anyhow.

Keep in perspective that from his posts DanielH sounds really young.

[DanielH]

Ferpetesake we're talking 9 kyu here, not some holy grail.

If your head instructor says test, test. If you get conflicting advice in this or any other matter, listen to your head instructor.

- hehe, I don't like to advance in anything regardless unless I feel that I'm good enough. It feels like I'm cheating and I hate cheating in things like this :P

Commercial dojo? I go to HMK... why?

Oh.. and I'm 17 but... there is no real reason to be TO serious here, right? Just talking and a little messing around... if I sound like a little kid I can begin to act more serious :)

[kendokamax]

if you are not ready for the test , well you should fail it if you take it right?
so go ahead and try.... if you dont fail good for you!

[Hai_hai]

... Now my problem is that I don't personally think I'm ready, and I'd like to practice for another month before I even start to think about the test. Now if both instructors say they think I'm ready, but I don't, do you guys think I should take it or not?

I just want to add that you don't know that you are not ready even though you are. Your dojo probably has a 10 kyu level system to make beginning students feel that they are making progress, so they don't quit. Other dojos have a longer time before one tests, but if you pass, you may receive a 5 or 1 kyu certificate.
So basically, if you pass at 10 kyu, that means that you have learned and know the basics, not mastered the basics.

[yukiko]

[QUOTE=m_french]Am I reading this right!?!?!??! what is 9 kyu? I thought the kyu grades started out at 6?

Hey, m_french, the kyu grade starts from 13th. then you proceed to the 1st then to the dan grades;). you should know this for your future reference;).

Danny,til 3rd kyu, it's really up to the dojo leader, so if you feel comfortable, and your sensei says you can do it, then you should take the test. Grades do mean something, cuz sometimes you get these people who are arrogant enough to look down on you just because of your grade. Luckily I dont have that kind of people at my dojo!!!!:)

Good luck!

[DanielH]

Yeah... you guys are right. If my instructor feels I'm ready I guess I am? Afterall... who is the one with my experience? ;) Didn't think of that, can't imagine why. Guess everyone has a bad day

[Neil Gendzwill]

Hey, m_french, the kyu grade starts from 13th. then you proceed to the 1st then to the dan grades;). you should know this for your future reference;).
It really depends on the dojo. I've never heard of anyone using 13 kyu - that seems excessive to me. Some use 10 (with 10 being complete newbie). We don't use any kyu for adults - we have one test to determine if they're ready for bogu, and then the next is the CKF ikkyu test. I've decided to implement kyu for kids, I'm using 6 and frankly I don't know how I'd break it up any more finely than that. Hell, judo uses only 6 kyu and they have 40 basic throws, a dozen or so groundholds, a bunch of locks and chokes and 5 sets of kata to learn along the way to shodan.

[yukiko]

It really depends on the dojo. I've never heard of anyone using 13 kyu - that seems excessive to me.
Hey, thanx for your information! i didnt know that, and i think it depends on dojos abroad. But i have to say that dojos that i have been to in Japan(3 of them and i spent decent amount of years in each of them) while I was raised up there, and all of them started with 13th kyu. It's the minimum grade, but these are not for adults, they are for like up to the age of 8 or 9 at the maximum. You know in japan you start kendo at really early age like you start tennis or ice skate or something like that in the west. My sister started her kendo at the age of 4, and she got the 13th kyu at the end of her 3rd month when she was able to do basic cuts and kirikaeshi.

[Kendo-Militia]

[QUOTE=yukiko][QUOTE=m_french]Am I reading this right!?!?!??! what is 9 kyu? I thought the kyu grades started out at 6?

Hey, m_french, the kyu grade starts from 13th. then you proceed to the 1st then to the dan grades;). you should know this for your future reference;).

Here in the US we start from o-kyu, then to 6 kyu down to 1 kyu .

[JimB]

Are the rankings below dan used for anything at all when it comes time to compete? My dojo uses the same system as Neil mentioned and I haven't understood the need for the lower ranks aside from their uses by the dojo to let people know how well they are progressing. Are they used at all by the Kendo federation the dojo belongs to?

[tango]

Are the rankings below dan used for anything at all when it comes time to compete?


No.