Taekwondo

[Oleg]

I am studding TAEKWONDO and in our school white belt is 12th Gup. Right now I am purple belt, which is 10th Gup. When I did some research on the internet, I could not find any other school of TAEKWONDO where white belt is 12th. I been learning TAEKWONDO for almost 6 month and I am only 10th Gup. It makes me feel really bad, because in most of the schools, even white belt is 9th Gup.

Here is the Belt Ranking System in our school.

WHITE - 12th Gup
YELLOW - 11th Gup
PURPLE - 10th Gup
ORANGE - 9th Gup
GREEN - 8th Gup
BLUE - 7th Gup
BLUE STRIPE - 6th Gup
BROWN - 5th Gup
BROWN STRIPE - 4th Gup
RED - 3rd Gup
RED STRIPE - 2nd - Gup
POOM (Black Belt Candidate) - 1st Gup

Can you guys explain to me, why in this school we have so many Gup’s?

 

[Andrew Green]

There is no universal standard, different schools are free to set it up however they like. Don't worry about your belt, it's not in any way shape or form important.

 

[TigerWoman]

Hi Oleg, welcome to MartialTalk. Schools teach differently so there are different colors or levels. Usually purple belt is higher, above blue belt though in my experience. Some schools carry levels to the ridiculous with 3-4 stripes on each belt, so therefore testing and paying for each stripe, so your school isn't so bad. We are WTF (Taeguek is our form type) and have ten levels to black belt, lst dan, ten tests but he could have put stripes on gold and orange belts as well. We have white, gold, orange, green, high green (black striped down the middle), blue, high blue, red, high red, recommended black belt (half black/half red), 1st dan-all black. But if your instructor has that much material to teach and test, that's good too. Enjoy the journey! TW

 

[Oleg]

Hi Oleg, welcome to MartialTalk. Schools teach differently so there are different colors or levels. Usually purple belt is higher, above blue belt though in my experience. Some schools carry levels to the ridiculous with 3-4 stripes on each belt, so therefore testing and paying for each stripe, so your school isn't so bad. We are WTF (Taeguek is our form type) and have ten levels to black belt, lst dan, ten tests but he could have put stripes on gold and orange belts as well. We have white, gold, orange, green, high green (black striped down the middle), blue, high blue, red, high red, recommended black belt (half black/half red), 1st dan-all black. But if your instructor has that much material to teach and test, that's good too. Enjoy the journey! TW

Thank you.

 

[jfarnsworth]

Don't worry about the Gup, Kyu, etc. Focus on having fun first and foremost learning. It doesn't matter about the so called name given to a rank until you get to black. Even then all that red still really doesn't give you an idea on what someone really knows. :asian:

 

[searcher]

Please tell us more about your school, rank requirements, pattern names, about your instructor. What type of sparring do you do? Welcome to the forums and happy posting. Mr. Farnsworth is right about not worrying about rank until BB. Once you hit BB the you will not really care about rank. Eventually you will only care about what you know.

 

[Oleg]

Please tell us more about your school, rank requirements, pattern names, about your instructor. What type of sparring do you do? Welcome to the forums and happy posting. Mr. Farnsworth is right about not worrying about rank until BB. Once you hit BB the you will not really care about rank. Eventually you will only care about what you know.

Here http://www.socaltkdcenter.com/

Thank you.

 

[Jonathan Randall]

I am studding TAEKWONDO and in our school white belt is 12th Gup. Right now I am purple belt, which is 10th Gup. When I did some research on the internet, I could not find any other school of TAEKWONDO where white belt is 12th. I been learning TAEKWONDO for almost 6 month and I am only 10th Gup. It makes me feel really bad, because in most of the schools, even white belt is 9th Gup.
Can you guys explain to me, why in this school we have so many Gup’s?

A local, traditional TKD school utilizes 13 Gups. The testing fees are reasonable, however and the standards are high. I wouldn't be overly concerned one way or the other if the training is good.

 

[terryl965]

Sounds like you are at a very nice school in cali. the instructors look ok and there requirements are truely pretty good stay and learn in time your training will prove to be right on. They seem to be a fight school in tournaments so that can't be all bad.Let us know how it turns out.

 

[searcher]

Sounds like a nice place.

 

[FearlessFreep]

The distance from Albuquqerque to Santa Fe is the same, whether it's measured in miles, kilometers, or leagues.

 

[phlaw]

I saw a TKD school in California once that used a Camoflauge belt, don't worry about it, just have fun.

 

[kanjc]

Our school uses about the same number of belts/gup, alot of the aadults skip a belt or two on the way, I have skipped 2, but I don't expect to skip any more (I go for brown next month) but when we sparr in class white against red, brown against yellow, our sparring kinda blurs the belt lines so that everyone learns from everyone else...

 

[BaktoBasics]

How old are you? When I was younger I wanted my black belt so I could brag . I got my black belt in TKD when I was 14 and it was cool. I understand you're young and want to brag but a belt is not everything. I this day and age belts are given away by most McDojangs and you should feel lucky that you belong to a school that teaches you properly.

You'll come to appreciate that martial arts is more than mere rank. I know some beginners that can kick the crap out of some black belts...

 

[TigerWoman]

I this day and age belts are given away by most McDojangs and you should feel lucky that you belong to a school that teaches you properly.

This is an over-generalization. "Most" schools are not McDojangs but the ones that are bring down the rest for the uneducated. TW

 

[BaktoBasics]

Lets agree to disagree.

 

[arnisador]

Fair question, Oleg. Some schools use many subdivisions to increase profits through testing fees; others, to better organize material, or for traditional reasons. If you don't feel you're being taken advantage of, I'd say: Forget about it. It's meaningless. Ranks can't be compared across organizations.

In Modern Arnis we had a "zeroth degree black belt" for quite some while. (Some Modern Arnis organizations still do.) I was one for three years before I became a first degree black belt. When I spoke with people from, say, Karate, I felt somewhat as you do--but I didn't think too much about it. It was just a quirk of our system.

You'll be at this stage for such a short period of your martial arts career! You may be training for, what, 3-5 years before black belt--but then, hopefully, for 40 or more years after!