Information for All Students
All students need to be aware of these following:
- Bring a full water bottle to every class
- The room is available at 6:45 pm. Students are expected to arrive before the start of class to setup the room and training equipment
- Class starts promptly at 7:00 pm with a formal bow-in. Students arriving late will need to stand on the side until they are given permission to join the class
- Students usually get two brief water breaks during class
- Class ends at 8:30 pm; students usually are leaving by 8:45 pm after training equipment has been put away
- Students can wait inside the main lobby for their rides, especially when it is dark or cold
While the instructors have the option to change things up as needed, the class usually follow a basic pattern.
Students arrive and begin setting up equipment for the class under the direction of the class instructor.
Students start lining up for class, in rank order, a few minutes before the start of class.
There is formal bow-in at the start of class.
General announcements are given to the students.
The students go through a quick warm-up routine.
Training starts and run through the end of class.
The students do post-training stretching as needed and then put away training equipment.
Students leave.
While almost all classes follow this pattern, what is taught during a class varies from one class to the next. It is very important that students attend every class possible in order to get the training needed to advance. It may seem that missing out on "just one" class will not be a problem. However each class is designed to build on the previous classes. The amount of training students need increases as they earn rank. Additionally, there is so much to learn that all of it cannot be covered every night. Each class covers different material. A general guideline is that it takes 20 to 25 classes to be ready to test for their next rank, and there are about 30 classes between each color belt testing.
Each belt rank has specific requirements which can include time, techniques, competition, and volunteer hours. All of the requirements are specified by the USTF and are available to the students. However only the head instructor can decided when a student is ready for testing. Attending classes, training hard during class, and practicing at home will help students be prepared on-time for their next testing. Some students will pick things up quicker, and some students will take longer. Students will only advance when they are ready.
Testings for color belt ranks are planned in April, August, and December. Testings for black belt ranks are held as needed, usually around early May and early November. Each belt rank has a minimum time period that a student will need in order to be ready for testing. However if a student is not ready by the time of testing, they will need to wait until the next testing session. Occasionally, an alternate testing will be added a couple of weeks after a regular color belts testing for students who were unable to attend a testing due to other conflicts.
Only the black belts who have been given permission by the head instructor are allowed to teach. Students must not teach each other, in class or outside of class. Parents must not attempt to teach TKD to their children regardless of any martial art training they have received or how many classes they have watched. Parents are welcome to watch any class they wish and are welcome to encourage their kids to practice. However parents must be extremely careful to avoid pushing their students to practice. This almost always ends up having a negative impact resulting in the kids deciding they do not want to continue their training.