Your First Belt

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[Ruairidh]

hi im ruri and i have my yellow belt. i remember being so pleased with myself that i managed to get it. what were your thoughts and feeling when you got your yellow belt? or 1st belt after white anyway.

[lbb]

The first belt after white in my dojo is black. I probably won't ever get there.

[Ruairidh]

The first belt after white in my dojo is black. I probably won't ever get there.

so do you have like white belts but different kyu's?

[Jesse Legon]

First coloured belt I got was red (shodokan (tomiki) aikido) and I felt... like I was going to prove I didn't deserve it at any given moment.

I'm a worrier!

[ninjaqutie]

In aikido my first belt was included with my gi! HAHA. I won't get another belt until shodan. We go up in rank, but our belts remain solid white.

If you are talking about my first belt in another style, that would be my yellow belt. I got it on August 17, 2009 after 3 months of training twice a week. Don't ask me why I tend to remember the dates of all my belts from that style. I could tell you every single date of my belts..... except when I got my black belt. I could guesstimate that.... but it wouldn't be exact (though I could easily look it up). I remember everything that happened that led up to me getting it. I remember feeling so happy and feeling like I had actually accomplished something in my life. I used to be very shy and felt quite invisible. I was so happy and nervous that I even forgot how to tie my new belt on correctly. That seems to be common and we called it " New Yellow Belt Syndrome" in that class. I believe that 4 out of 5 people would forget how to tie it correctly the first time they got a belt. Seemed to go away by green belt though. :O)

In that style, you never really tested. The teacher gave it to you when you were ready. To them, you were tested every time you stepped on the mat. She used to say that you had to look like the next rank for a month straight. If you were able to do that (technique, attitude, kata, etc) then you were promoted. I actually preferred it that way... but my current dojo requires testing. We shall see how that goes in another month or two. Yikes!

[lbb]

so do you have like white belts but different kyu's?

Yes. You start out unranked, then your first test is for fifth kyu and so on. You test for a kyu rank, they tell you if you passed or not, eventually you get a certificate. Black belt comes with shodan.

[Eva Antonia]

Hi,

my first belt was a old-fashioned cotton diaper from my kids, as they forgot to include a regular white belt in the kimono package. I didn't like it extremely much, but luckily got soon rid of it, as the teacher offered a white belt from his superfluous old white belts collection.

Best regards,

Eva