Obama gets BB

[Shawn]

U.S. President Barack Obama will be given an honorary Taekwondo black belt from the Kukkiwon to mark his first visit to Korea on Wednesday and Thursday. A government official said that President Lee Myung-bak will present President Obama with an honorary Taekwondo degree certificate and a uniform embroidered with his name. President Obama practiced Taekwondo for about four years with an American master in Chicago from 2001 while he was serving in the Illinois state senate. He obtained a green belt.


Source - http://www.kidokwan.org/index.php?optio ... d=41:kukki


What are your thoughts on this particular story and honourary belts in general?

[Zorbasan]

im not a fan of Honorary belts.

would you let someone that got an honorary degree in brain surgery operate on you?

[progdan]

At least though he actually had done some TKD, and they weren't just giving it to him randomly with no history in it whatsoever...

[Jinen Kym]

I wonder if P/minister John Howard trained for his Honory 5th Dan Kyokushin or Nelson Mandela's 8th Dan? I have no problems with recognition being given within an organisation but that is where it ends and isn't a grading as such.

I have a student who trained with me for many years, got to Brown and did his back. He always drops in to help teach juniors if he's not in pain so I have given him an honory grade for his commitment to our club.

[flyfire]

With Kym on this one. Nothing wrong at all with Honorary belts, usually the recipient has behaved in a way consistent with the values espoused by martial arts to deserve one. Jeez I think Obama has done more, much more than enough.

BUT yes, as long as thats where it ends and its not used for false promotion. Thats when we have the 'Hello everybody, I'm Dr Nick Riviera and I'm going to operate on your braaaaaiiiiin....' problem that Zorba refers to.

[Shawn]

Thats when we have the 'Hello everybody, I'm Dr Nick Riviera and I'm going to operate on your braaaaaiiiiin....' problem that Zorba refers to.

[Shawn]

I have a student who trained with me for many years, got to Brown and did his back. He always drops in to help teach juniors if he's not in pain so I have given him an honory grade for his commitment to our club.

We had a similar situation a while back. In our old dojo, this lady that trained with us had a really bad back. She worked hard and worked her way up to black belt standard, but as with many in that dojo (me included), you had to be exceptional or at the standard for a very long time before Sensei let you grade. Unfortunately in that time, her back detereorated and she couldn't continue training.

when we broke away and started our school, she started coming to training and used to help with teaching. She could train in small spurts, but not for 2 hours solid, so she used to do some training. She still had the intensity, speed and power, but had lost flexibility and just couldn't go for long periods. Based on this and her commitment to the art/school, Dad presented her with an Honorary black belt, as she would not have been able to complete a physical grading, but had definitely put in the sweat time and earned her scars.

[Chrislg]

Dad presented her with an Honorary black belt, as she would not have been able to complete a physical grading, but had definitely put in the sweat time and earned her scars.

Did she continue after getting her BB?

[Shawn]

Dad presented her with an Honorary black belt, as she would not have been able to complete a physical grading, but had definitely put in the sweat time and earned her scars.

Did she continue after getting her BB?

Yeah, for a while. She's no longer with us, but she stuck around for a couple of years after that.

[Katana]

It's not new. Elvis got (I think) an honorary 4th dan.

Personally, I dislike the concept. Rightly or wrongly, the general public equate black belts from all schools and styles. I'm sure we've all heard But he's a 3rd dan, so he could beat your 1st dan, ignoring the fact that the 3rd dan is a 65 year old guy who weighs 60kilos and the 1st dan is built like Brock Lesner.

Just my 2c.

[Shawn]

It's not new. Elvis got (I think) an honorary 4th dan.

That's a debate in itself. Many believe it was legit.

[unclefester]

Honorary awards for whatever are fine so long as they are then treated by the recipient as just that. usually the certificate will have those magic words 'Honorary' on it. Its like some universities giving out honorary degrees and no one would expect those people to start lecturing. So long as they dont want to open up their own MA emporium that's fine