If you haven't read my previous post already then I suggest you do as the two have some close links between them.
As mentioned in my previous post, the belt system is not just a source of motivation in itself or people would just give up as black belts and karate would die out (see previous post for full explanation), it would just be pointless. However, working through the kyu grades as a karateka is far from pointless. This post examines the importance of them in training and how they lay the foundations for training as a black belt.
In spite of my argument that the belt system wouldn't work if it was just a source of motivation, it can if it's not the belts in themselves. The coloured belts systematise that huge amount of learning that needs to be done between starting karate and becoming a black belt. Without them, the task would seem impossible to many (westerners) who start karate and who would otherwise give up. The systematic approach the coloured belts provide prevent karateka from giving up early, a more optimistic way of putting this would be that it keeps them motivated. So, in the early years of a karateka's training, the belt system acting as something preventing them giving up, but not the belts in themselves, actually keeps karate alive.
Also, kyu grades lay the foundations for black belt. Without them, training as a black belt would be impossible; a craftsmen can't make anything until they know how to use the tools. In the context of karate, 'the tools' are skills karateka learn as kyu grades, the crafting of something (making karate your own), happens at black belt. As a kyu grade, one learns basic (becoming increasingly advanced) techniques, one of the more obvious and important skills. Equally important, is developing good training habits(working hard, regular practice etc......).
Training regularly and working hard only when there's a grading on the horizon is an example of an unhealthy training habit. It also shows a total reliance on the belts in themselves for motivation, which they're not, because it wouldn't work if they were, as I've said before, people would just give up at black belt, because of unstable foundations laid as a coloured belt, clearly. This also an example of making the belt system in to something it is not. The two, training habits and making the belt system in to something it is not have a correlation between them, this suggests. Training for the next belt, and not for the love of karate, is another example of an unhealthy training habit along with seeing the belt system in to something it isn't.
However, this also suggests that, the belt system can easily get in the way of a karateka developing good training habits. So is it such a positive impact on training after all? Personally, I don't think it's the belt system to blame, rather people not understanding that developing good training habits won't just happen, they have to work at it. It's when they don't that they start to rely on the belt system and it in to something it's not; a karateka is the centre of their training, the belt system is a part of that training, not the other way round.
When the belt system has a negative impact on training, it's because of the individual seeing it as something it isn't, yet again. That's all I'll say for now as my next post will be the overall conclusion to my last 3-4 posts and I don't want to repeat myself too much.
No comments:
Post a Comment