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Old 03-26-2009, 07:06 PM   #1
Shannon Frye
Dojo: Aikido Fellowship of VA / Chesapeake Va
Location: Virginia
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Name for youth kyu ranks

I could use some input on a problem I'm working on. At my dojo, we only have kids classes 2 days a week. It would be nice to offer some incentive (like testing) every 3 months, but I don't want to rush the kids through the ranks. I decided to perhaps do a "half test", thus breaking a single kyu rank into 2 smaller test.

But I can't think of a good title to call these 'half ranks'. 10kyu, step one or 10th kyu step 2 just doesn't sound right. Nor does 9 1/2 kyu. And starting them out at 20th kyu , and just testing whole numbers - sounds horrible.

Can anyone offer a kid friendly title for rank issued that is a step between whole number kyu ranks?

Thanks in advance....

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Old 03-26-2009, 09:25 PM   #2
Mark Gibbons
Location: Seattle, WA
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Re: Name for youth kyu ranks

We do rank + a stripe for the half way mark. The kids take an abbreviated test to earn the stripe. We put some colored tape on their belt for the stripe.

Mark
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Old 03-27-2009, 02:58 AM   #3
Eva Antonia
Dojo: CERIA
Location: Brussels
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Re: Name for youth kyu ranks

Hi,

in our dojo kids start with "no kyu" and then do a test to merit 6th kyu (white belt). My little ones did that test after 6 months.

After that, there is the same system of getting stripes. Like, one yellow stripe on the white belt = half way to 5th kyu. The nice thing is that if they flunk an exam, for example having one yellow stripe and testing for 5th kyu, instead of just keeping one stripe they get a second yellow stripe....

But still, if a kid starts at 6, even if they are brilliant and perseverant you cannot test them too frequently considering that they need a certain age limit for shodan and I think in our federation also already for 2nd kyu. So, they have to learn patience at an age when this is very difficult :-)

Best regards,

Eva
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Old 03-27-2009, 07:11 AM   #4
dalen7
 
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Re: Name for youth kyu ranks

Quote:
Mark Gibbons wrote: View Post
We do rank + a stripe for the half way mark. The kids take an abbreviated test to earn the stripe. We put some colored tape on their belt for the stripe.

Mark
Excellent idea - back in my uncles Karate days (he is only 3 years older than me), I remember that he had like 4 taped stripes on each belt he had.

Kind of an incentive, and kids like to have their progress marked.
{Well some adults too.)

Peace

dAlen

dAlen [day•lynn]
dum spiro spero - {While I have breathe - I have hope}

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Old 03-27-2009, 09:06 AM   #5
Dazzler
Dojo: Bristol North Aikido Dojo
Location: Bristol
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Re: Name for youth kyu ranks

Quote:
Shannon Frye wrote: View Post
I could use some input on a problem I'm working on. At my dojo, we only have kids classes 2 days a week. It would be nice to offer some incentive (like testing) every 3 months, but I don't want to rush the kids through the ranks. I decided to perhaps do a "half test", thus breaking a single kyu rank into 2 smaller test.

But I can't think of a good title to call these 'half ranks'. 10kyu, step one or 10th kyu step 2 just doesn't sound right. Nor does 9 1/2 kyu. And starting them out at 20th kyu , and just testing whole numbers - sounds horrible.

Can anyone offer a kid friendly title for rank issued that is a step between whole number kyu ranks?

Thanks in advance....
Hi

I believe I've seen this done with "mon" rankings.

Try a bit of a search on that and see what it comes up with.

http://www.templegatedojo.org.uk/kid...dokidshome.htm may also have some useful ideas.

Regards

D

Last edited by Dazzler : 03-27-2009 at 09:08 AM.
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Old 03-28-2009, 04:06 AM   #6
David Maidment
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Re: Name for youth kyu ranks

We have a similar system at our dojo. Our kyu belt colours go: red, white, yellow, orange, green, blue, brown. For kids, they take tests more regularly, but they only get a 'half-kyu', which is signified by a tag/stripe on the end of the belt which is the colour of the next full belt (so you'd go orange, then orange/green, then green, green/blue, etc.). The actual kyu number doesn't change until they get the full belt, though. It seems to work very well.
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Old 03-28-2009, 05:09 AM   #7
Josh Reyer
 
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Re: Name for youth kyu ranks

In Japanese, a "pre" rank for a kyu level would be prefaced with "jun". So a "pre-5th kyu" would be "jun-gokyu". This is often seen with language tests -- the STEP test (an English test) goes gokyu (5th kyu), yonkyu (4th kyu), sankyu (3rd kyu), jun-nikyu (pre-2nd kyu), nikyu (2nd kyu), jun-ikkyu (pre-1st kyu) and ikkyu (1st kyu). A similar system is used for the Kanji Kentei, a test of kanji ability.

Josh Reyer

The lyf so short, the crafte so longe to lerne,
Th'assay so harde, so sharpe the conquerynge...
- Chaucer
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Old 04-10-2009, 06:00 PM   #8
Mark Uttech
Dojo: Yoshin-ji Aikido of Marshall
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Re: Name for youth kyu ranks

Onegaishimasu. Some dojos start with 12th and 10th kyu to give the kids more tests and more time. In gassho, Mark

- Right combination works wonders -
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Old 04-11-2009, 06:07 PM   #9
Shannon Frye
Dojo: Aikido Fellowship of VA / Chesapeake Va
Location: Virginia
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Re: Name for youth kyu ranks

Thanks to all that have replied.
To clarify my problem - I'm all for the use of stripes. And have already decided to break apart the test to much smaller stepping stones for the kids. My main problem is coming up with a decent 'name" for these ranks. Not numbered, or "white belt with 3 stripes".
I'm struggling with a kid friendly order of names for the various rank levels.

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Old 04-12-2009, 05:28 AM   #10
David Maidment
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Re: Name for youth kyu ranks

Shannon,

As I said in my previous post, our dojo uses the stripes. We just call it 'X Belt, Y Tag'.

I can speak from personal experience of the system (I gave up Aikido for 10-15 years, so I got to train at our dojo as both a kid and an adult); it feels nice to have that stripe of the next belt, and to say "I'm green tag" really is an ego boost (not in the bad way) for the kids.

It feels like you've made it to the next kyu rank, but you do realise that there's still work to be done to actually get there. Just being able to have that flash of colour and refer to themselves as the next colour up (even if it's followed by the word 'tag' and not 'belt') keeps them interested.
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Old 04-12-2009, 12:50 PM   #11
Lyle Laizure
 
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Re: Name for youth kyu ranks

Another option you could consider is using another form of Japanese counting. Where one would normally count ichi, ni, san, shi etc depending on what you are counting the words used for counting are different. Ippu, nifu, mitsu etc...

Lyle Laizure
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Deru kugi wa uta reru
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Old 04-12-2009, 01:47 PM   #12
Josh Reyer
 
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Re: Name for youth kyu ranks

Quote:
Lyle Laizure wrote: View Post
Another option you could consider is using another form of Japanese counting. Where one would normally count ichi, ni, san, shi etc depending on what you are counting the words used for counting are different. Ippu, nifu, mitsu etc...
I'm afraid that's mistaken. The native form of counting goes "hitotsu", "futatsu", "mitsu", "yotsu", "itsutsu", "muttsu", "nanatsu", "yatsu", "kokonotsu", and "tou". "Ippu, nifu" would be counting something like "municipal districts".

The native form of counting is cardinal, not ordinal, so it wouldn't be right for kyu ranks.

Josh Reyer

The lyf so short, the crafte so longe to lerne,
Th'assay so harde, so sharpe the conquerynge...
- Chaucer
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Old 04-13-2009, 12:17 PM   #13
Randy Sexton
Dojo: Aikido of Lake Keowee
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Re: Name for youth kyu ranks

Shannon, have you considered asking the kids themselves for suggestions what or how they would like to call themselves?
Doc Sexton

"Strength does not come from physical capacity. It comes from an indomitable will"
Gandhi
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Old 04-13-2009, 12:41 PM   #14
Randy Sexton
Dojo: Aikido of Lake Keowee
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Re: Name for youth kyu ranks

As a Taekwondo martial artist (as well as Aikido) I have seen various ways students are identified by color but the most common color scheme I have seen is:
White Yellow Orange Green Blue Purple Brown Black
with a single strip in between the colors for incentive.
That creates a total of 14 belts to wear before putting on the Black ranging from plain white to Brown belt with a single Black strip.
I have found using more than a single strip creates too many ranks.

Also, if you want to make your parents happy don't charge for testing except for the solid colors IMHO. Use the strip as Sensei recognition and incentive for the student to fully commit to training up for the next color. It does create a sense of encouragement. I think of it as a pat on the back as well as a little nudge on the path to the next level.

I have have also seen blue or purple left out totally and I have seen the rank as purple then blue rather than blue then purple.

Doc Sexton

"Strength does not come from physical capacity. It comes from an indomitable will"
Gandhi
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