Testing:

Promotion tests are conducted regularly, and the instructor will advise each student when they are ready to test. A student should be permitted to test only if they show a respectful attitude toward the art they are learning, and the Instructor feels confident that a student is ready to test. Promotion tests are special and serious events. Part of what is being tested is the student's ability to cope with the stress of a formal evaluation in front of instructors, family members, and peers. The senior instructor oversees the test; however, instructors must avoid grading their own students. Actual grading must be done by at least one other qualified Black Belt.

Students are judged relative to their physical abilities, which may be influenced by age, weight, flexibility, motivation, and personality traits. More is and should be expected of adults with unlimited capabilities than of children and persons with obvious limitations. Comments should be confined to positive reinforcement. Children in particular will remember praise and build on it, but will more or less ignore criticism.

The presentation of new belts or stripes by the judges is a formal and prominent ceremony at the end of the grading, with students at each belt level receiving recognition and congratulations for their accomplishment, in a supportive and encouraging atmosphere.

RANKING OF BELTS

Seikido schools maintain the traditional five colours which were established by the Tae Kwon Do belt grading system, with interim stripes preceding each colour, thereby making ten steps to achieve black belt. These traditional ten steps are maintained out of respect for the originators of the art.

The belt indicates the student's level of proficiency and assists the instructor in knowing what to teach at each stage of the student's development. The prescribed techniques and knowledge to be mastered at each belt level are designed to provide realistically attainable goals for advancement in accordance with the abilities and motivation of the average student.

The original meaning of the sequence of belt colours comes from Asian tradition. The colours signify the following:

WHITE is for the beginning, like a blank sheet of paper. It represents the white of winter snows, upon which nothing has yet been given the chance to grow.

YELLOW is for the foundation of the growth of the student's abilities. After the winter snow melts it exposes the soil, which in the far east is mainly yellow, upon which the seeds of knowledge can be planted.

GREEN is for the student's growth out of the foundation, like the green plants growing out of the soil, striving for the sky.

BLUE is for the blue sky toward which the plants are reaching, as the student tries to attain a higher level of knowledge.

RED is for the red sun in the sky, representing spiritual enlightenment. Red also symbolises the student's attainment of enough physical ability to signify danger to any would-be opponent.

BLACK is for the universe. It represents the accomplishment of having reached a goal, of having learned the basics of the martial arts techniques, and the achievement of the inner peace of self confidence. It also represents the infinite quest for improvement in the art and in life.

Seikido Black Belts cannot divest themselves of the responsibility that goes with the skills they have learned, wherever life takes them. They are ambassadors of the art wherever they go, and their conduct reflects upon the art and their instructors.

Test Requirements for each belt level