how long to first dan in your club?

[ralphmcpherson]

Im sure this has been done to death, but with the recent discussions here regarding 1st dans, and some new people around the place I thought it would be interesting to see from club to club and country to country and org to org how the time compares. So, how long does it take a student to get to first dan at your club providing they stay injury free, pass their gradings and train hard?

 

[mango.man]

It took my daughter 4 years at her original club where she obtained her 1st Poom. Another 4 years for 2nd and she just got, a couple weeks ago, her 3rd Dan after 3 more years.

At our current school, everyone on the team (Team-X, visit us the the web at http://www.teamxtkd.com or on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=56083165763&ref=mf) joined as at least a 1st Poom/Dan already. Those at the club that are not part of the team, well the club is new enough that thus far there are no black belts, other than the owner, so I couldn't tell you what time frame they are looking at.

I will add that it took 2 years after testing for 3rd Dan for her to actually get her KKW cert. Thanks USAT!

 

[andyjeffries]

I will add that it took 2 years after testing for 3rd Dan for her to actually get her KKW cert. Thanks USAT!

Glad (?) to hear that it's not just the BTCB that is shocking at getting KKW certificates...

 

[jthomas1600]

Our school is Kukki affiliated. It can be done in just under 4 years. The reality is though that weather it's extended family vacations, injuries, or other pressing commitments it seems that everyone has something that interrupts their training for a few weeks here and there. I'd say 4-5 years is average.

 

[StudentCarl]

We're Kukkiwon affiliated as well. It's about 3 years to first dan.

 

[B'Dragon]

In Aikido fast track would be 7 years, which I did and that was training 5-6 days a week with solo practice on off days. Most usual is about 10 years for BB then years between belts, it took me 20 years to reach 3rd Dan.

And BTW, there are no minors with BB. In our organization you must be at least 18 to hold a BB.

 

[Daniel Sullivan]

Im sure this has been done to death, but with the recent discussions here regarding 1st dans, and some new people around the place I thought it would be interesting to see from club to club and country to country and org to org how the time compares. So, how long does it take a student to get to first dan at your club providing they stay injury free, pass their gradings and train hard?

Three years for me at the current club. I had been taking taekwondo (plus a little karate and a lot of fencing) on and off since I was very young, so I had more than three years of relevant experience. The class that I took was a hybrid TKD/HKD class. Since he took the hapkido hoshinsul out and offered hapkido as a separate course of study, the average seems to be two years.

As I said on another thread, the time to black belt is less important to me than it is to some here. Colored belts are in the appretice stage and first to third/fourth dan are essentially in the journeyman stage, with 4th/5th being masters.

When I asked my KJN about why he does it so quickly, he said first that two years would be longer than it took in Korea, though he did not specify a Korean time frame. Second, the majority of his students were kids whose parents would check off 'black belt' on the enrichment list and then move their kid on to violin lessons or some other enrichment activity.

So the two year kids get two years of good, solid instruction and are not kept in their colored belts overly long. If they want to continue, then KMA is there for them. If not, why make them stay? "Black belt just basic," he said.

KMA is a Kukkiwon dojang, so taekwondoin practice taegeuk pumse and spar under WTF rules.

Daniel

 

[Manny]

In Ji Do Kwan it took me 4 years or hard trainin to get my black belt 1st dan, on Hwarang Tae Kwon Do it took me 3 years to get my second dan black belt.

Now talking of my actual dojang (HTKD) for the average Joe the time from white belt to black belt is 3 years, it's enough time? it depends, it's not the same the student who goes 3 times per wek (e hours per week) that the student who trains 5 times per week, however I think a well comitment student who trains regulary must at least be in TKD classes for a period of 3 years to get his red belt and then a fully year of red belt to become a black belt.

Back in the 80's in JDK thta was the norm, the student who train regulary, atended to tournamnets at least once or twice a year for a period of 3 years he will become a red belt tenh a fully year to make his tesis, 100 hours minimum of social service (assisting sambonim with the class/ teach class, helping with some chores like preparing things for exams, tournaments,etc,etc.)

This times sems sambonis rush the students to next levels so achieving black belt status is about 3 years.

Manny

 

[miguksaram]

The average time for someone with no prior experience is about 4-5 years in our school.

 

[ETinCYQX]

We have no 1st Dans yet and I'll be the next one, but I'm a bad example. Around 6 years at the old school training a lot and I'll go out on a limb and say it's similar now. Our gradings are ridiculously picky, as well.

 

[Kacey]

The absolute minimum is 3 years, but most people take closer to 4, and a fair number take longer. There is no maximum time; if you are not ready to test for some belt level (color or black) you don't test that time, so your total time to black belt is extended. No matter how long it takes a student to reach 1st gup, there is a minimum of 6 months at 1st gup before a student can be eligible for I Dan.

 

[ralphmcpherson]

Its good to hear that most responses so far indicate the "2 year black belt" isnt as common as some other threads had led me to believe

 

[dancingalone]

Its good to hear that most responses so far indicate the "2 year black belt" isnt as common as some other threads had led me to believe

Maybe, maybe not. I don't think the kids who are getting those 1-2 yr black belts are the types who would be posting on MT. Aside from the discussion of the dojang in Korea, I think Granfire has been the only (kyung-ye to Granfire) one so far who has said it was normal in her system to get a BB in 2 years.

 

[ralphmcpherson]

Maybe, maybe not. I don't think the kids who are getting those 1-2 yr black belts are the types who would be posting on MT. Aside from the discussion of the dojang in Korea, I think Granfire has been the only (kyung-ye to Granfire) one so far who has said it was normal in her system to get a BB in 2 years.

You are probably right. I would imagine most people posting here take there martial arts quite seriously, and as a general rule I think most serious practitioners would be somewhat skeptical about 2 year black belts, considering 5 years is probably the norm in most systems.

 

[Dirty Dog]

Average in our school seems to be 4-5 years. But there's neither a maximum nor a minimum time. You test when Sabumnim thinks you're ready.
At the extremes, about a year ago, one gentleman was promoted to Chodan after 9-10 years at this school. A woman and her daughter both promoted to Cho Dan Bo this summer; the mother has been 1st geup for about 18 months. The daughter, about a year. I've been given the nod to test for Cho Dan Bo in April; that will be 22 months after my wife and I joined the dojang.

 

[andyjeffries]

I've been given the nod to test for Cho Dan Bo in April; that will be 22 months after my wife and I joined the dojang.

Best of luck for your upcoming test!

Are you and your wife the same rank and is she testing too?

 

[msmitht]

It usually takes 3 years in my school, training 3x per week to test for 1st poom/dan. Some longer, a few shorter. Quickest for my students was a 12yr old wh trained EVERY day for 29 months. She won every wtf poomsae event and medaed in almost every sparring event from white-black. Then Took 18 months and her mom took her to korea and had her tested at kukkiwon for 2nd poom. Excelent student.
I also have a 5 year green belt......

 

[TKD_Father]

Three years for my son. He could have done it in two but we decided he should take a full year at Red Belt before testing for Black.

I see two year Black Belts at this school. They all would have benefited from taking an extra year as well.

 

[Dirty Dog]

Best of luck for your upcoming test!

Are you and your wife the same rank and is she testing too?

Thank you.

We're not the same rank. When we joined this school, I was returning after a long (like, 25 years...) layoff from the martial arts, while she had no training whatsoever. So I've progressed faster. We do train hard though. We're at the dojang 3 days a week. 3 hours on Tues/Thurs, 2 hours on Sat. And we train at home 1-1.5 hours per day. Two of my children joined the school 6-8 months after we did. I can't say how much they train at home, since they don't live with us, but their progression tells me they're working hard.

In April, Sue (my wife) and Jennifer (my daughter) will be testing for 5th geup. Mark (my son) will be testing for 6th geup. It should be a good day.

The family that kicks together, sticks together.

 

[andyjeffries]

In April, Sue (my wife) and Jennifer (my daughter) will be testing for 5th geup. Mark (my son) will be testing for 6th geup. It should be a good day.

Best of luck to all of you then (in particular Jennifer who shares my daughter's name! :wink.

It's great for you that you are all training together. My son trains with me (he's 8) and my daughter will be when she turns 6 (she's 5 3/4 at the moment, so she does some stuff with me in private lessons, but not joining in the class yet).

My wife has no interest in Taekwondo at all, which is fine, it's not to everyone's tastes...