Developing Promotional Requirements for Senior Students

Key Questions:

1.      Does my governing body already have a plan in place for promotions?

2.      What sort of judo students will I cater to?

3.      What is my expectation of knowledge at each stage of my student’s development?

If the answer to the first question is yes and you aren’t a member of the curriculum development group for your governing body, the rest of this particular blog entry may just be interesting reading. If they don’t, this should be a good read for you.

For question 2 you have to make an honest evaluation of what sort of students you want to have. If you plan on a competitive club, like Judo America in San Diego, your promotional requirements should reflect techniques and skills useful and effective for tournament. On the other hand, if you have a recreational club, your promotional requirements might have more kata and technical perfection. Most, I think, will fall somewhere in between.

Question 3 completely depends on your belief about how technically proficient your students should be at any given level at a minimum. If you want broad depth of knowledge with a moderate ability to apply at will you might choose to have a lot of elements required at every level with a short time frame between promotions. If you want a high ability to apply at will with moderate depth you might choose to have a few elements with a moderate amount of time between promotions.

For me, I looked at the promotional requirements that I inherited from my father and the USJA Senior Promotional Test requirements. Much of my father’s requirements revolved around technical development and the Go Kyo no Waza. Much of the USJA’s test requirements revolve around competitive development. In combining the two I had to determine how much of both I was going to keep.  Neither was completely satisfactory for my purposes.

Specifically, my father’s standards weren’t as thorough as I think a new club instructor should use. Those requirements are adequate when an instructor has good backing or a long-term internship with a senior instructor. Unfortunately, I never had a long-term internship with a senior instructor.

The USJA test is very open to selection by candidates. It covers a broad variety of skills while limiting the amount required between promotions.  That’s a good plan for students who know judo and have a broad depth of understanding, but that’s not most students. However, I think it provides too much leeway for students.

In combining the two, I opted to keep my dad’s ten kyu system which, like the USJA system, has three brown belts but, unlike the USJA system, has six belts below the brown belts. The first two grades are the times where students learn basic judo skills and techniques and aren’t recognized by the USJA. That doesn’t bother me at all, because I don’t particularly believe in allowing most beginning adults to go to tournament. There are exceptions but those are based on tournaments and previous grappling experience. Once my students are ready for the USJA ranks they’ve already had about a year of judo and have better fitness and confidence in their skills.

I know this is a basic guide and I’d like to hear what you think!

My promotional requirements are available on my club website.