* Although training for belts is a goal most students try to obtain, it is not a requirement

* Belts are EARNED at our school, not given. Students obtain a feeling of true accomplishment and knowledge

* Students are never compared to others as we are all unique with our own levels of skill and ability

“Are my kids ready?”, “What do they test for?”, “When do they test?”

Lil Tigers

  1.   Students test every 2 months.
  2.   What they learn in class is what they test for. There is nothing to prepare for unless they want to practice their stuff at home (such as PK’s).
  3.   If students cannot attend, they will be put on the following month’s test.
  4.   Purpose of the test? This teaches the kids about preparing, listening, trying their best, and working towards a goal which provides them with a feeling of self-worth and satisfaction when they obtain a new stripe.
  5.   A student does not need to obtain the black stripe in order to move up to the next class (JR’s). This is done according to age, maturity, and skill level.

 

Juniors – Youths – Adult/Teens

  1.   How often they test depends on how often they come in, and how well they learn and retain their skills.
  2.   Here’s the big one. IF WE SAY THEY ARE READY TO TEST, THEY TEST. Will a student feel they are unprepared, not ready, and completely nervous? It wouldn’t be normal if they didn’t but this should in no way stop them from proceeding. We do not want to waste anyone’s money, or our time by testing a student if they are not indeed good to go. The student themselves are not qualified in determining whether or not they are ready. If that was the case, it would probably never happen or it WOULD happen when it shouldn’t.
  3.   Students that constantly put themselves on hold after we have told them they are ready, take away time from others that are trying to prepare for their test. This is due to the fact that we spend a lot of one-on-one time with a student to pre-test them, and to work on any skills that they are weak in.
  4.   One Time A Week Students: This is tough. Students that only come once a week are more challenged in having enough time to learn new skills, practice, and then prepare for an upcoming test. These students should accept the fact that it may take them a bit longer in order to be ready. HOWEVER, don’t get discouraged! We do have students that manage quite fine and test quite often. It depends on the student and how much they practice at home, how hard they work in class, their effort, and how well they remember everything. We have ‘cheat sheets’ to help aide these students so they have the information at home (everything except the self-defense sheets). A student is more than welcome to call or email us anytime with questions or problems they may have.
  5.   Here’s another VIP pointJust because their name is on the test roster does not mean they will test! This only indicates that they should be getting ready to do so because it’s ‘their time’. We will either verbally tell the student and/or parent that they are good to go, or indicate it on the test roster that is posted on the board. We try to keep students up to date on their progress and whether or not they will make the date.  Sometimes this can take right up to the last week to do so as students may be working really hard and just need that one extra class to be ready.

 

We do not bring in ‘outsiders’ (eg: from an association, etc) to help test students simply because, well, they are outsiders. Due to the fact that we work so personally with students, only we know what they can and cannot do. We know their personalities, their limits, their abilities. It’s not just about the skills, it’s about the whole personWe know what they have done during class so when during the test they get so nervous that they freeze up, we are able to sit back and think “Well wait a minute. I know this person knows how to do this skill because I’ve seen him/her do it countless times during class,” and we take that into account.  Or perhaps it was a new skill that they just learned, and we know that it will take time to get better at it. We are not looking for perfection. It doesn’t exist. We are looking for desire, effort, attitude, and improvement each time the student tests.