"What does it feel like to get your black belt?"

[oftheherd1]

Unfortunately Tony, that isn't the worst I've heard. I know of someone that paid $1500 for a 1st Dan in Hapkido as well as a TKD school that offered Hapkido BB's after one weekend of training (for several hundred dollars of course). And let me clarify, the only requirement was already having a BB in TKD and taking the weekend course. And the BB in Hapkido wasn't necessarily a 1st Dan either, it could be a higher Dan depending upon whatever your TKD rank was. Again, as long as you paid for the test.

For some the martial arts is a passion and pursuit. For others it is a scam. But then it's a free market so if someone is stupid enough to pay $1000 for a piece of paper and a piece of cloth then so be it. As they say, a fool and his money is soon parted.

As far as the OP topic, how should you feel? A small sense of accomplishment and nothing more. If it is more than that...you've missed the point.

I remember you posting on this before. It still surprises me to read it again. How can people, teachers or students, do such things and then the students presumable hang the certificates in their dojangs?

I get it that a MA school must be a business as well, but phony certificates, or $1000 for testing when a student has already probably contributed substantially to the longevity of the school, is amazing.

 

[Gwai Lo Dan]

$1000 ?!?!?!

Is it made of gold????

I posted before 2 things at different times: 1) this school was bought out by a chain school; 2) before the takeover, I looked at the school and asked about BB testing fees for 1st dan. The answer was "we charge $600, the same as the other Korean schools".

What is new is last week I stopped by after getting a haircut next door, and I started talking with a mom. Her daughter had tested in March (6 months ago) and had paid $900 for 2nd poom. She hadn't received her certificate yet, and the school under new ownership told her to talk with the previous owners. The new school has raised prices on fees, so I have no doubt that testing fees are now also higher.

 

[evelbug]

I posted before 2 things at different times: 1) this school was bought out by a chain school; 2) before the takeover, I looked at the school and asked about BB testing fees for 1st dan. The answer was "we charge $600, the same as the other Korean schools".

What is new is last week I stopped by after getting a haircut next door, and I started talking with a mom. Her daughter had tested in March (6 months ago) and had paid $900 for 2nd poom. She hadn't received her certificate yet, and the school under new ownership told her to talk with the previous owners. The new school has raised prices on fees, so I have no doubt that testing fees are now also higher.

Wow. Talk about putting the dough in Tae Kwon Do. I'm testing for my first dan in a couple weeks. My school is charging $250 for the black belt test and required black belt camp a couple weeks before the test.

 

[Dirty Dog]

It is more than a little pointless to compare prices when you have no idea what's included in that price.

 

[Jaeimseu]

Prices for authentic Kukkiwon certificates often used to be outrageous (probably still are in some schools). If you have something that is "exclusive" you can name your price as long as people are willing to pay.

I suspect that prices have come down some since the actual costs are readily available via the internet these days and potential black belts can find out how much mark up is involved if they put forth any effort.

I think Tony may be leaving money on the table, though. I heard of an instructor asking $10,000 for a 4th Dan Kukkiwon cert. At 4th you can start awarding certs yourself^^.


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[Kong Soo Do]

Darn it!

Okay, let's get serious. Just enter the special code "MARTIALTALK" at checkout for an additional 20% discount. That's right, just $600 dollars for certificate, belt, your name in the registry, and, if you act now, a special membership card.

It's a bargain!

Pfff...

Both you and oftheherd1 may be offering a discount on a BB, but I'm offering titles baby!

Master for $500
Grandmaster for $1000
Great Grandmaster $1200
Supreme Grandmaster $1500

And I'm running a special on Professor and/or Dr. and/or PhD.MA for $250.

All come with a nice certificate of authenticity (your choice of peacock or dragon).

 

[Kong Soo Do]

I remember you posting on this before. It still surprises me to read it again. How can people, teachers or students, do such things and then the students presumable hang the certificates in their dojangs?

I get it that a MA school must be a business as well, but phony certificates, or $1000 for testing when a student has already probably contributed substantially to the longevity of the school, is amazing.

I thought it was a gag at first. Nope, it was real. It was a KKW TKD school run by a KKW 8th Dan. I called them personally to verify. And I know the instructor is an actual KKW 8th Dan. Apparently he had a buddy that was an 8th Dan in Hakido (I don't recall the Hapkido org but remember it was one of the bigger and supposedly legitimate ones). And no exaggeration, if you were a TKD BB (with NO previous HKD experience) you could take the weekend course (class on Friday evening, all day Saturday and test on Sunday morning) and if you passed the test you received a HKD Dan certification from this HKD organization. So figure in reality you can only be tested on what was taught the previous two days. And the level of the Dan was tied to your TKD BB level so you weren't necessarily testing for a first Dan in HKD. Been a while but I think it was something like a first HKD Dan if you were a TKD 1-3 Dan, a second HKD Dan if you were a TKD 4th and so on from there. Basically two below you TKD rank if you were 'up' there in TKD. Something to that effect.

Bottom line is forget what's on the wall and judge an instructor by what you see and how they teach.

 

[Gwai Lo Dan]

It is more than a little pointless to compare prices when you have no idea what's included in that price.

Agreed, my current school charge me $380 for a test as basic as any other test. My prior school charged $600, but that included 3 months of extra classes (around 4hrs extra per week). So big picture, the $600 is a better deal.

 

[Buka]

For the first ten years I trained Martial Arts I had never heard of a school charge for a Black Belt. For the second ten years I trained I had never heard of a school, other than Fred's, charge for a Black Belt. For the third ten years, it sorta' went into the crapper.

These last ten years - my original thought is "are you ******** me?"
But, when you think about it, it kind of makes sense. Perfect sense, in fact. Either find a dojo where you earn a belt, or find a dojo where you buy a belt. You know why that's so awesome?

Because, the best thing in life a man can have in any endeavor, the absolute best fricken thing, is "a choice".

 

[oftheherd1]

I thought it was a gag at first. Nope, it was real. It was a KKW TKD school run by a KKW 8th Dan. I called them personally to verify. And I know the instructor is an actual KKW 8th Dan. Apparently he had a buddy that was an 8th Dan in Hakido (I don't recall the Hapkido org but remember it was one of the bigger and supposedly legitimate ones). And no exaggeration, if you were a TKD BB (with NO previous HKD experience) you could take the weekend course (class on Friday evening, all day Saturday and test on Sunday morning) and if you passed the test you received a HKD Dan certification from this HKD organization. So figure in reality you can only be tested on what was taught the previous two days. And the level of the Dan was tied to your TKD BB level so you weren't necessarily testing for a first Dan in HKD. Been a while but I think it was something like a first HKD Dan if you were a TKD 1-3 Dan, a second HKD Dan if you were a TKD 4th and so on from there. Basically two below you TKD rank if you were 'up' there in TKD. Something to that effect.

Bottom line is forget what's on the wall and judge an instructor by what you see and how they teach.

Always the best advice! Thanks.

 

[WaterGal]

It is more than a little pointless to compare prices when you have no idea what's included in that price.

That's a good point. If one place charges $300 for only the test and a KKW cert, and another charges $400 but includes a new uniform and a black belt with your name embroidered on it, and another charges $500 but you get some private lessons to help you prepare.... the latter two aren't necessarily ripping you off.

But I think someone that charges $1,000 for a KKW 1st Dan is ripping you off.

 

[GiYu - Todd]

The class after earning my shodan was very instructive for me.
I paired up with a yondan to practice a relatively simple technique we had worked on the previous week. The previous week, I was able to easily throw him. Now with my BB on, I tried the same move, and failed. Then failed again. I asked him what I'm doing differently, and he said "nothing... we just expect more out of you now".
Other higher BBs started pushing me harder too, giving me an occasional "tap" if I didn't guard properly, etc, where before I thought I had been doing things right. They said I'm now ready to fine tune my techniques, so they would no longer allow slop from me. For awhile, it was frustrating, but it has made me much better since.