With that said, martial arts is a journey and commitment. We recognize, due to many reasons including life changes that continuing the practice within the Club can be difficult at times.
Since the Club started in 1973, we have on record 570 students testing (which means there have probably been close to 1000 students that at least signed up for the class, since our experience is about a 50% drop out ratio in the first semester).
Of those 570 students, the break out per rank is:
• 141 Green Belts (25%)
• 288 Blue (51%)
• 65 Brown Belts (11%)
• 13 Interim Black Belts (2%)
• 63 Black Belts (11%)
Based on information I have read in books and on martial arts website, around 11% for Black Belts appears to be consistent with other western martial arts clubs. Therefore, about 1 in 10 people who test in our Club reach the level of First Degree Black Belt.
Of the Black Belts, the break out per degree is:
• 49 First Degree Black Belts (8.6%)
• 8 Second Degree Black Belts (1.4%)
• 3 Third Degree Black Belts (0.5%)
• 3 Fourth Degree Black Belts (0.5%)
Therefore 1 of 40 people that tested reaches the level of Second Degree in our Club.
So, how long does it take to reach at least a First Degree Black Belt in our Club? The average in our Club based on our records is 4.5 years. However, the minimum time it took to date is 1.5 years and the maximum is 21 years. For those into mathematics and statistics, the standard deviation is 3 years.
Also, how you progress is different for each person. Each person takes their own path and it depends on what their time and effort in plus what else is going on in their life. The figure below traces four students’ scores until they reached first degree Black Belt and shows just that – students progress at their own pace.
Student 1 progressed quickly and steadily. Student 2 progresses as quickly as Student 1 at first but the progression slowed after that but was fairly steady until Black Belt. Student 3 started slower than Students 1 and 2 but then started on a slope similar to Student 2 after 1.5 years. Student 4 progressed at a slower rate from Green to Brown than the other students and then slightly slower afterwards but continued and eventually reached Black Belt.
So what does all this mean? It boils down to time and effort. Those that made it in a few years work very hard and dedicate themselves working out not just in class. The person that took 21 years took time off and was not part of the Club for years, but then came back and reached that level (if you took out the time that person took off, it was more like 5-6 years). Even for the four students in the figure, the slope or progression was most likely dependent on how much effort they were able to dedicate to practice over that time period.
The bottom line is it takes time and effort to progress and everyone progresses at their own pace and it takes dedication to continue on this journey to reach Black Belt. I encourage all of you to continue to train and continue to progress at your own pace.
Regards,
Kelly
Victory over oneself is the primary goal of our training. We focus on the spirit rather than the form, the kernel rather than the shell. ~ Morihei Ueshiba (1883-1969), founder of Aikido, from his book “The Art of Peace”
