Why kids belt tests are important and how Systems Training Center is challenging the traditional testing process

Martial arts schools, especially traditional martial arts like Taekwondo & Karate usually make pretty big claims when it comes to their belt tests and kids program. The nature of martial arts will help your child develop, confidence, grit, focus, humility and so on. That’s a given with most martial arts school that a child dedicates their time to.

But the problem with many traditional martial arts schools is that they've gotten used to doing things the same way for decades which was left many of the traditional martial arts schools w/ antiquated practices and stagnated development of their students, instructors, and program.

At Systems, we are growth-oriented, which is why we are challenging the traditional way of doing belt testing and promotions.

Why is belt testing important?

Every parent that signs their child up for the kids BJJ, kickboxing, or Ninja classes wants them to improve in areas like:

-       Confidence

-       Self-esteem

-       Attention/focus

-       Discipline

-       Bully defense & prevention

-       Mental awareness

-       Perseverance/grit

These qualities are being taught and reinforced in every class. Every time your child finally gets a move they’ve been working on for weeks, you can see it in their faces; that beam of confidence and boost to self-esteem.

Every time they’re working on a particularly difficult combination, or a new strength or agility skill in Ninja, the frustration is real, but they keep at it. These skills are not God-given, they’re learned and earned. And they’re skills that will prove to be invaluable time and time again in their life.

The best way for us to help your child grow is regular, consistent attendance and belt testing.

Tests allow us a chance to ensure your child is gaining, retaining, and understanding how to actually apply the skills they're being taught.

What is a traditional martial arts test?

Traditional martial arts schools (Taekwondo & Karate), generally have the test on a specific day and time where friends and parents come and watch the child review a series of choreographed moves. At the end, there is typically one or two exceptionally “showy” moves like breaking a plywood board where the audience oohs and awes in amazement.

Karate and Taekwondo (and other traditional martial arts), generally require a certain level of athleticism and mobility but more often than not the moves are not practical.

What’s wrong with traditional martial arts tests?

Just by the nature of the martial art, the test only shows a series of flashy choreography. Can the child remember the series of moves/katas in a specific order? Can the child chant the appropriate words? Ostensibly, this is a memorization test. Sometimes, the child is paired against another child and they “spar.” This can often look really dramatic but again many times it’s about the performance not about the practicality.

In short, traditional martial arts tests often mimic standardized testing in school. Can you memorize X,Y, and Z?

The second problem with traditional martial arts tests tying the actual test to the performance. Many children experience performance anxiety which is only amplified when they’re being told they’re being tested.

Truthfully, in karate schools, if your child is invited to the “test,” you can almost always guarantee a pass. But that pass is usually a decorated participation trophy.

How is Systems challenging the traditional testing system?

At Systems, we are growth-oriented which is why we are challenging the traditional way of doing belt testing and promotions.

Instead of doing the standard "test" where your child is assessed on set moves on a given day and that's the only day they will be considered for a promotion we are going to be doing the testing over the course of two weeks in the classes. But even that is not the full scope of the testing, each child is evaluated wholistically rather based their progress purely on a curriculum checklist.

Kids are used to the traditional schooling system, memorize X, get tested on Y date, find out if you passed or failed.

But as studies are showing, standardized testing may not be the best way of testing aptitude and true knowledge (can the student actually apply what they’ve learned or did they just memorize the key points?). Additionally, one-size-fits-all approach to testing is arguably biased because it fails to account for different variables.

Not A One-Size-Fits-All Approach

We're less interested in children just knowing the move (although that's important, it's just the foundation) and more interested in the application. Can your child apply the skills in real-time? Does your child know what to do if they're caught in one position us another and then another?

In our Ninja classes, the skills your kids are learning are more along the lines of more traditional tests you may be familiar with (i.e. Can Elsa perform this skill (forward roll) or not?)

But even here we're not taking a simple pass/fail approach - we are looking at the child wholistically. How much have they're grown compared to themselves since they've started training?

We don't believe in participation trophies and or rewarding anyone (including kids) for something they haven't earned. Yet at the same time, we want the kids to focus on where they are today compared to where they were a few months ago.

Is Elsa better than the Elsa of last month? It doesn't matter what Anna or Olaf are doing, where is Elsa?

We're focusing on internal drive & motivation instead of external motivation. Much of society already prime children to be driven based on external motivators, and that's fine. External motivation can be pretty powerful but it can't be the only thing that drives children. One of our goals is to harness internal motivation which, many times is more fulfilling.

So yes, while one of the testing requirements is mastery of specific skills, techniques, and movements - that is just one of the things we're looking at when evaluating the child and their readiness to level up.

Positive Association to Performance

We're taking the usual testing style and turning it on its head. Traditionally the belt test is the event. It is what parents pay for and usually come watch. But we thought about it and decided against that style.

How many adults hate public speaking, performing, or doing anything where they're under pressure and being watched?

Performance anxiety is something that even many professional athletes battle. You may have struggled with this yourself. But if you watch small children (under about 7), many of them are free of the constraints and worries of what others may think of them. They sing, dance, fart, whenever, wherever. Then at about 7 years old, peer interaction and brain development make the child more aware of others. Suddenly, they start to think things like, “Will I look silly if I do this? What if I do it wrong and embarrass myself? Will I be judged?” Depending on the temperament of the child this new awareness can have a mild effect on their behavior to an almost unrecognizable kid.

Sprinkle in a potentially negative experience where the child has to “perform” and they can quickly settle into the mindset of never wanting to do any sort of public speaking/performance etc.

Testing can feel stressful and some stress is necessary for growth, we don’t want your child to associate their achievement (leveling up) with a potentially negative experience. We don’t want them to get up in their head, knowing that you’re there watching them, their teammates are watching, their coaches evaluating them, and have that impact their performance of the skills we’re looking for.

This is why we’re NOT doing a standard belt test. Instead, we’re doing an exhibition and celebration ceremony.

The testing will happen three weeks before the celebration ceremony in the classes. The exhibition is a chance for them to celebrate themselves and their growth. We want them all to feel celebrated and proud of how far THEY’VE come. And yes, some of the children will be getting a stripe or moving on to the next level but that’s really more of a chance for everyone to support their teammates and also get an understanding of where they need to grow, so next time they can crush that goal.

We want to give each of your children a time to shine and show off what they’ve been learning in classes. It gives them an opportunity to “perform” and associate that with a positive memory where they’re celebrated.

Our coaches are working hard on making this event really special for them and for you. Your little babies, the ones you used to cradle in your arms not so long ago are growing up. Each time you blink they get a little bigger. The children will exhibit the skills they’ve learned in each of the disciplines they regularly participate in. This means if your child takes all three disciplines (BJJ, Kickboxing, and Ninja) they will have an exhibition in all three. We’re working on getting each parent/guardian a prime view of their child’s exhibition because we understand this is a really special moment for the children and for you.

They’re learning and accomplishing so much and we want to give you this moment to savor this moment of their childhood and honor their growth thus far so join us for the Kids Warrior Exhibition and Ceremony.