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Old 01-23-2014, 03:17 PM   #2
FusionMa
Dojo: Aikido/Cleethorpes
Location: Immingham
Join Date: Feb 2013
Posts: 2
United Kingdom
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Re: What is Martial Arts Rank?

Hi Peter. I like your post - it sparks true thought and requires an individual to look into themselves to see if 1. they want to answer honestly or if they want to answer in a way that shines the best kind of light upon them (maybe that is their honest answer but that is a mute point) and 2. they really are doing what they are doing for the reasons they believed themselves to be doing it.

My answer to your question is this: Rank is a means in to gauge experience and nothing more, an individual may demonstrate ability during a grading beyond their experience and attain a double grade, but that rank is not awarded hastily; a ranking awarded reflects the experience and expertise of both the student and the grader, if a double grade is awarded then the grader feels that an experience ranking higher than the grade taken has been displayed.
A rank means absolutely nothing in the real world, you may the highest ranking student ( we are all students regardless of rank ) in the world and can still get your butt handed to you by a nobody with no rank at all, there is after all always someone better. It is this that drives us to become better ourselves, because we realise that we are not trying to become better than the person who bested us, but we are trying to better ourselves to make everyone else better around us.
Rankings are useful though, they allow us to see the progress we are making and the progress of our students, they allow us to make contests fairer by grade matching contestants and the very best thing of all, a belt is very good at keeping our trousers above our hips and our Gi's closed and presented nicely. )
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