If you’ve watched class, or done class, you’ve heard us talk about the black stripe and what it means.
I can ask anyone, from Little Dragons to Adults, what it means, and I get two answers; It means you’re committed to Black Belt (or some varation of the wording) and it means you’ll stay for a year.
Walk into most karate schools, and good luck getting on the mat without signing up for at least a year. One karate studio in Carrollton does a great job sellling, and they get students to sign a 4 year contract when they start. They give you a 90 day cancellation, sometimes, but 90 days goes by fast and then you’re in. And no - they don’t care if you change your mind. You are paying whether you come to class or not. Either way, you have to walk in and make a decision about what to do with pretty limited information.
I don’t like doing sales in karate. I do plenty of that in other places, but I do karate because I like it. We don’t do a hard sell at PowerKenpo, and sometimes that means we lose some students to other studios. But I would rather have it that way. I like that our commitment is about more than money.
At PowerKenpo, you can walk on the mat and train, month to month, for as long as you want. When you move from belt to belt, when you get promoted, you have the opportunity to commit to Black Belt. Nobody has to do it, and we don’t put any pressure on to do it. It’s a personal decision, and if it’s not right for the student, then we don’t want them to commit.
In effect, we have two tiers of students; a group that has not yet decided to commit to Black Belt - they are still trying the program. And another group that has made a commitment and is more serious about the training. The students in the second group are long term - they have very little turnover and tend to move up - they are much more likely to get to Black Belt.
Having committed, though, the student gets to wear a special belt, with a Black Stripe. He or she gets to tell everyone there that a commitment has been made, and they are serious about getting to Black. They check a box and sign on their promotion form saying “I will get my Black Belt. I want to wear the Black Stripe on my belt to show my commitment to Black Belt to help inspire other students to do the same”.
They also sign the line that says: “I will attend at least two classes each week for the next year.”
For kids, the parent has to sign a line that says that their child “has convinced us that his/her commitment to Black Belt is real and we agree to support him/her on the journey by bringing him/her to at least two classes each week for the next year, and by encouraging and supporting him/her in classes and in practice.”
You can’t be committed to Black Belt day to day, or week to week. There will be times when you want to quit, or times when students and family just get busy, and it’s easy to drift away. Being committed gets you though the lows. Students wearing the Black Stripe are more likely to succeed than students who do not wear it, because they are more likelly to stick it out when things get tough.
There is no line in here that says “I will come twice a week unless I get bored, or tired, or I’m really busy, or can’t get to the next belt as easily as I would like.”
There is no line on the parent affirmation that says “If my child wants to quit, I’ll let him or her walk away from the commitment that they made. I mean, reallly - he or she is just a kid and shouldn’t be asked to commit to something like this”.
Tiger Woods understood commitment. Michelle Kwan understood commitment. Troy Aikman understood commitment. Nobody had to hold Emmit Smith’s hand and make him go to practice.
Nobody has to take the Black Stripe. I know some people do it because it’s a cooler belt than the other belt, but whatever reason gets them to commit, we expect, that, once the commitment has been made, that it will be kept. When someone takes the Black Stripe and then tries to walk away, I don’t tell them it’s ok, and I don;t try to make them feel good about them choosing to abandon that commitment to themselves, to the other students, to the instructors, and to the studio. They shouldn’t feel good about it; it’s a failure. In the case of kids, the parents have committed to supporting their child in committing to Black Belt, and have decided instead to support their child in breaking that commitment. There are better lessons to teach a child than that.
Very importantly, if we don’t demand that people who make the commitment to Black Belt follow through, then the commitment means nothing. The Black Stripe means nothing. We owe it to every student who has made that commitment, who is wearing the Black Stripe, to defend that symbol aggressively and demand that the people who wear it live up to the commitment that they have made..
We have 313 students. We see a certain amount of churn in students without the Black Stripe, as do all karate studios. We see very little churn once a student commits - in fact, only 5 students have ever broken their commitment to Black Belt since we started doing our program this way. That’s an incredibly small percentage - but every one is a failure, and every one hits hard.
Summer is coming up. Classes are going very well. Ed Parker will be here in June. We’ve had a great year so far, and it’s going to get better. If you, or your child, is on a plateau, talk to us and we’ll get them through it. If you are in class, stick with it. If you’ve been out for a while, this is a great time to get back in. If your kid is in class, think about signing up for the family class on Wednesday - even if it’s only for a month or two, you’ll gain skills and insight that will help you help them move ahead.
We’re adding a special class on Tuesday and Thursday, starting next week from 5:45 to 6:00PM, and on Saturday from 12:30 to 1:00PM, open only to students who have the Black Stripe on their belt. We’ll work on weapons, teaching and leadership, and advanced fighting skills.
Call or email anytime with questions, comments, suggestions, complaints. See you on the mat.
Sifu Jim Dryburgh
PowerKenpo
3108 Old Denton Road #111
Carrollton, TX 75007
972.394.7385
“The true science of the martial arts means practicing them in such a way that they will be useful at any time, and to teach them in such a way that they will be useful in all things.” - Miyamato Musashi
“Thus it is important to teach men how to acquire discretion, great insight, forthright conviction and an honest heart. To teach them to acquire a personal awareness and self-discipline and thereby place them on the solid ground of practice.” - Shissai
