The Respect of a Given to a Belt

Often enough I've noticed that, in martial arts, people get respect both by their belt color and by the skills the show they have. A lot of if has to do with the amount of experience you have. This is especially noticeable when you go to tournaments and when you have guest sensei's come over and teach for a day.

In tournaments, you will always be given respect, but usually you don't get as much respect until you either show that you have some pretty ninja skills or that you really know what you are doing. In essence, a black belt to other senseis does merit respect, but they will not take you seriously until you, in one way or another, prove that you really deserve that belt. A belt will just be empty unless you can really show that you truly have the expertise that a black belt should have. The way that this is usually done is when you either do a demo and show off some ninja skills with a bo staff, or if you simply show that you really know karate and that you're not just a freak that bought the belt on Amazon.

Whenever a sensei is asked to come over to a class, right off the bat you know that they are knowledgeable. This is mainly because they would not be invited if they weren't. Yet the interesting thing about this is when you observe how a class reacts to them. I have stepped back and watched how a class didn't take a substitute sensei seriously regardless of the fact that he was doing an ok job. Sure he got respect because of his belt, but the kids didn't really give him their full respect. But now, the fun part is to watch a sensei who has over 25 years of experience teach. The kids tend to respond almost immediately. She never raised her voice yet they readily followed her commands word by word. It was so intriguing to watch her mold the most rowdy and rude students to calm and respectful. This is the mark of a true master.

Even if you don't know a karateka as well, you will always be able to tell a lot about their knowledge and experience level just by watching the unheard respect that those around them give them. Its the way that you can tell apart who is a first degree black belt with barely a year of teaching experience as opposed to a fourth degree black belt who has been teaching for decades.