ITF Taekwon do grading examing exam advice

ladylouise

i am first degree black belt need advice about doing exams.
i am 30 years old and guys my age are 3rd dans they got 3rd dan last year.do you think i,ll catch up.i suppose not. because i left for 2 yaers.
i fail the black belt exam once that one year gone and black tag as well.

so any high black belts like 2nd 3rd ,4th black belts out who does ITF takwon do out there i,ll like some advice to help me progress through grading exams a lot better so i won,t fail again. because it up sets me that others pass and i fail and ending repeating another year i can,t afford time wise
:eek::eek::eek:

Ger Healy

Don't take this the wrong way but
I have two questions
Why do you practice tae kwon do & why is so important that you "catch up"?

ladylouise

Ger Healy wrote: »

Don't take this the wrong way but
I have two questions
Why do you practice tae kwon do & why is so important that you "catch up"?

i practice tae kwon do because thats all the sport i know i never did football or camogie.tennis, tae kwon was thing available . and its important catch because i am so far behind and i don,t want to fail any more grading exams and be further behind while peers are away ahead of me.

dudara

I got to black tag at the age of 27 then stopped training due to work etc. Started back for a while beginning to ramp up for black belt but haven't trained since I had surgery for a detached retina.

I miss it and I'd like to get back into it (safely). In the time that I haven't trained my ex-instructor's 11 year old daughter got her black belt (I remember when she started training). People who started after me have gotten their black belts - and you know what - I'm delighted for them.

I wouldn't compare myself to them - I'd simply concentrate on getting MY black belt(s) - after all, it's me putting in the work and it's me that's getting graded. Forget about comparing yourself to others (except for liking someone's technique and using it to make yourself better).

Forgive me for saying this, but you don't seem to have realy enthusiasm for the sport - am I right or wrong?

ladylouise

i don,t really any enthusiasm because my instructor play favorites to other students.

ladylouise

I LOOKING FOR TO HELP ME PASS THE BLACK BELTS EXAMS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
ADVICE NOT QUESTIONS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ger Healy

ladylouise wrote: »

I LOOKING FOR TO HELP ME PASS THE BLACK BELTS EXAMS!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ADVICE NOT QUESTIONS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Is using all capitol letter in your post away of showing us that you are angry about the question been ask?

i don,t really any enthusiasm because my instructor play favorites to other students.

Why train in a gym with an instructor you are not happy with? If you are not enjoying the training then change instructor this could be the reason why you are not progressing as fast as others.

ladylouise

Ger Healy wrote: »

Is using all capitol letter in your post away of showing us that you are angry about the question been ask?



Why train in a gym with an instructor you are not happy with? If you are not enjoying the training then change instructor this could be the reason why you are not progressing as fast as others.

is the only instructor i know.there is not many others know.

dudara

Unfortunately there is no easy way to pass the exam. Train hard (at least 4-5 times a week), watch the diet, do other exercise such as running or weights, study the syllabus and constantly strive to improve.

Getting a black belt, and then moving up the dan grades is a real achievement, but it doesn't come easy.

ladylouise

dudara wrote: »

Unfortunately there is no easy way to pass the exam. Train hard (at least 4-5 times a week), watch the diet, do other exercise such as running or weights, study the syllabus and constantly strive to improve.

Getting a black belt, and then moving up the dan grades is a real achievement, but it doesn't come easy.

no it doesn,t come easy thats why i need advice from advice black belts.i am overweight as well i don,t have endurance any more,

FruitLover

ladylouise wrote: »

I LOOKING FOR TO HELP ME PASS THE BLACK BELTS EXAMS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

TRAIN MORE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ger Healy

ladylouise wrote: »

no it doesn,t come easy thats why i need advice from advice black belts.i am overweight as well i don,t have endurance any more,

Any black belt that will come on here will tell you the same things we are telling you.

i am overweight as well i don,t have endurance any more

Its seem to me you already know some of the things you need to work on.
There is no easy way to earn a grade and if there was then it wouldn't be worth having.

I'm still baffled that you would train with an instructor who you think does not respect you and favors others.

ladylouise

yeah well there you go

ladylouise

well i hope to.but i need how to pass the exams it self like tips on how to remember technique and theory and keep cool during sparring.sorry i did n,t explain my self better .
thats what i mean. because i get very nervous during sparring and i get the run away situation thats how i failed my last exam.and i forget theory information i want progress quicker like the rest of them before i get old and grey

Ger Healy

ladylouise wrote: »

well i hope to.but i need how to pass the exams it self like tips on how to remember technique and theory and keep cool during sparring.sorry i did n,t explain my self better .
thats what i mean. because i get very nervous during sparring and i get the run away situation thats how i failed my last exam.and i forget theory information i want progress quicker like the rest of them before i get old and grey

Old & grey is not always a bad thing.

In relation to your sparring question
one of the best ways to do better in sparring is "Spar more"
but to achieve good results your instructor should be aware of your difficulties and be able give you advice on how to improve. But since you told us that he favors others here lies a problem.
If the intensity of the sparring was reduced then you could become more comfortable at the lower intensity levels. When you are confident at this level then you can gradually increasing the speed & contact until you are up to the level required for you testing.

Only by being confident will the desire to run away cease.

dudara

That's an understandable problem with sparring. I love sparring, but you have to treat it as a game and keep a cool head. Learn how to play the rules, how to keep your distance, how to dictate the tempo and play to your strengths. The only way to do this is through practice.

Being brutally honest here, you need to lose the weight. Being heavier will slow you down in sparring and make it harder for you. It will also impede your progress in other areas. I am speaking from experience here - I lost 10 kg a few years back and it coincided with my best period of progress in TKD.

RealJohn

Being brutally honest here (too), and I think Ger was getting at this in a roundabout way, you sound like you have a bad attitude to your training (which might well be understandable from what you've said about your instructor) and it's holding you back. You don't seem to want to grade for yourself but merely because you feel like you've fallen behind others. It doesn't matter what grade others are. Their grade shouldn't be relevent to your training.

I've been a 1st dan since 2002. One of the guys who did his 1st dan with me recently got his 3rd dan. One of the guys I used to meet in competition (and still do) who got his 1st dan a week after I did got his 3rd dan last year (I think). Their grade doesn't bother me though. I'm not enthusiastic enough about tkd right now to do a good 2nd dan grading and if I'm not going to do a good grading, I'm not going to grade.

More importantly, I don't have to grade in order to keep training or to enjoy training because I'm not training for anyone other than myself. The beauty of an individual sport like tkd is that you don't have to train for anyone else. If it was soccer or Gaelic football or basketball or whatever, you'd be letting the team down by not doing your best to keep up with the rest of the team. In tkd, you train for yourself primarily.

If you're not enjoying training with your tkd club, you might want to consider another club or another sport (are there any other martial arts around your area?). A well known international instructor once told us at a seminar that if you're not enjoying your training, you should quit. Tkd sounds like it's more stress for you than enjoyment right now. Maybe you should take a break and try something else?

yomchi

OP,
I am in receipt of all of your PM's. Let me just state, there is nothing or nobody on an internet forum that is going to make you better at your style. Only you can do that.

1. If you're not happy with your instructor - Leave
2. Your ITF cert will stand to you in any other ITF club
3. If you keep failing belt tests, train harder or at least try harder
4. If you are physically not up to strenuous physical activity, mind your diet.
5. You have the solutions, no one here does.
6. It's not the end of the world.

Train and be happy.

ladylouise

thanks for you advice one in all i think!!!!!!!!!!.i am thinking what will do next?
go back or not?yomchi there is no other instructor or martial club where i live.
all i wanted is advice to help me.yee perfer to give out to me help me.

yomchi

Where do you live and what club do you train in. You can PM me the details if you wish. I'm sure I could find a club near to you.

ladylouise

may be why i failing the grading exams is becasue i am useless at it.thats why i keep failing and being left.may be i should have pick girls football instead.i,ll say i am probaby clean useless at it,i have exams any way and people cocky in the grading they do the two

Unpossible

ladylouise wrote: »

may be why i failing the grading exams is becasue i am useless at it.thats why i keep failing and being left

It doesn't matter how good you are it matters if you love the art. I know people who have been brown belts for a few years and being honest I can't see them getting black belts any time soon, but they love our martial art and they are going to keep plugging away at it. I myself am not a natural, I know its going to take me longer than others and I have to work harder, but I love my martial art and I'm going to stick with it.
Don't focus on gradings focus on yourself, don't try to be a black belt try to be a good martial artist the belt will come in time.

ladylouise

i am black belt since 2007 because the people who are the same age as me are grades higher then me.there this guy i training with he same age as me and he,s 3 rd dan because he never failed grading exam unlike me who has failed 3 times = 3 years wasted .over tiny mistakes no body even notices.when i should passed examiner failed me over one wrong move or mistake in theory or don,t break a board = fails .

has any one the same problem in grading exams as me.i find the yaers too long to advance especailly when you older

1st dan =1 1/2 yaer
2nd dan = 2 yaers
whiich i find too long for some one is older who left behind .

just high insight .point at no one just wondering its just general question


failing some for a few tiny mistakes is ridiculous after pay for full year traing .and working hard on pattern the whole long.

then start thinking is it money racked ? because you keep paying to pass.

its level of thought the instructors who might pay favorites pass the people the likes and fail the ones he don,t like.

my instructor grades me .would be not better to have some else to grade students who is not there instructor?so there is no bias?
but isn,t my case.

zenboy

theres no point in anyone giving you advice with your current attitude.IF your not enjoying the tkd do something else,that should be obvious.

ladylouise

zenboy its not my attitude is wrong its instructors attitude is wrong.no one like treated unfairly . because the head man likes some one better should be treated better then every body else.may be some people like being treated unfairly,
for example a coach of team put players he likes on team like every single game .and some one who is not keen on end up on the sub line for every single game while the player he likes ends up playing . even if they only training 3 times of month.while the guy on the sub line is training every week ,week in and week out and never get to play.

but the lad who train 3 times months get on the team any way.

thats what i am talking thats just example of what i mean

dunkamania

If you are not happy to "just" be a first dan, than grading to a 3rd dan level or higher, wont make you happy either. Find another sport that you can enjoy doing.

Hephaestus

Jesus, reading this thread would make you want to bang your head off a wall.

You've been given some advice and you seem to have chosen to ignore it so what else can be said.

If your instructor treats you badly (like you say) & you choose to continue training @ this club then your a victim by your own choosing!

Whats with this obsession with gradings by the way?

yomchi

ladylouise wrote: »

zenboy its not my attitude is wrong its instructors attitude is wrong.no one like treated unfairly . because the head man likes some one better should be treated better then every body else.may be some people like being treated unfairly,
for example a coach of team put players he likes on team like every single game .and some one who is not keen on end up on the sub line for every single game while the player he likes ends up playing . even if they only training 3 times of month.while the guy on the sub line is training every week ,week in and week out and never get to play.

but the lad who train 3 times months get on the team any way.

thats what i am talking thats just example of what i mean

Which ITF are you with?

gonzothegreat

I'm a 2nd deg Blackbelt and I'm 38. I started training in my teens and due to work, Marriage and kids I had to give up for a few years. I also ran a club for 4 years and I was an Irish sqad member. The best way to get up to speed with what your weak or not to sure of is to train with and get help from another 2nd or 3rd deg. Dont get into the grading race take your time and enjoy what your doing. If your not enjoying it you might want to think of training somewere else. If I was still living in Dublin I'd help you out but I'm in Wexford now. I enjoy sparring but its not a big part of the grading, rember your training to be able to defend yourself and I know plenty of higher grade blackbelts that couldn't kick snow off a rope. Good luck and if you need anymore help PM me.

ladylouise

thanks for yee advice but theres nothing i can do about or nothing any one else can do about.i have to wear and bear it.incl snobby attitude and intimation by the higer grades who are the same age as me.i failed 3 exams = 3 years and left for 2 1/2 years and more reasons why i am behind.may be i wasn,t cut out to be higher grade at a younger age,i am just rubbish at it.i should have never took tkd but i did n,t know any thing about grading exams at the time.if i knew i would never took it.i am not competitive nor ambitious person

thanks any way

dudara

Your instructor should not be grading you, especially for dan gradings. People in our organisation have to travel to the HQ in Dublin for their dan gradings.

ladylouise

well i train with the head instrutor like 6 or 7 or 8 dan and head instrutor grades us.he doesn,t go near dublin