Archive for the ‘UTKM Testing’ Category

UTKM Belt Testing: Adult Requirements

Posted: January 11, 2018 by urbantacticskravmaga in UTKM Testing
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First of, if you haven’t read our post on our belts, in general, please see the page UTKM Belts – Our Story & Process.

First off, in order to test for any specific belt level, you must meet the MINIMUM requirements. Remember, these are MINIMUMS and do not entitle you to test even if you have met them. Please do not ask your instructor to test, you will be asked when your instructor has deemed you ready. It doesn’t matter if you think you are ready, if the instructor does not think you are ready, you are not ready. In addition, there are various factors to consider when inviting students to test. Please do not take it personally.

UTKM Adult Belt Rankings (Age 16 +)

White Belt Assessment – Fee $50
  • Completed a minimum of 30-40 hours at White belt
  •  Participated in a minimum of 10 sparring sessions in the Warrior classes
  • Demonstrated competency in sparring, and can safely spare with contact
Yellow Belt Test – Fee $50
  • Completed a minimum of 70 hours at White belt, warrior, and defense classes, and be approved by your regular instructor
  • Demonstrated competency in sparring, and can safely spare with contact
  • Completed at least one White Belt Assessment
  • Have volunteered in or witnessed a previous Yellow belt test
  • Attended classes a minimum of once a week for 6 weeks prior to testing
  • Are physically and mentally ready for the test, as determined by your instructor
Yellow Belt Assessment – Fee $50
  • Completed a minimum of 30-40 hours at Yellow belt
  • Continued to advance your sparring skills in the Warrior classes
  • Demonstrated competency in sparring, and can safely spare with contact
Orange Belt Test – Fee $100
  • Completed a minimum of 70 hours at Yellow belt,
  • Demonstrated competency in sparring, and can safely spare with contact
  • Completed at least one Yellow Belt Assessment
  • Recorded at least 2/3 of your required hours in the Novice Colour Belt classes
  • Demonstrated competency in the Yellow Belt Curriculum
  • Have volunteered in or witnessed a previous Orange or Green belt test
  • Attended classes a minimum of once a week for 6 weeks prior to testing
  • Are physically and mentally ready for the test, as determined by your instructor
  • Have prepared for the written portion of the test by studying the UTKM Blog and Guides
Orange Belt Assessment – Fee $50
  • Completed a minimum of 100 hours at Orange belt
  • Continued to advance your sparring skills in the Warrior classes
  • Demonstrated competency in sparring, and can safely spare with contact
  • Have sparred at least 5 times in the Novice Colour Belt classes
  • Recorded at least half your hours at the Novice Colour Belt class level
Green Belt Test– Fee $100
  • Completed a minimum of 140 hours at Orange belt,
  • Demonstrated competency in sparring, and can safely spare with contact
  • Completed at least one Orange Belt Assessment
  • Recorded at least half of your hours in the Novice Colour Belt classes
  • Demonstrated competency in the Yellow and Orange Belt Curriculum
  • Have volunteered in or witnessed a previous Orange or Green belt test
    o Attended classes a minimum of once a week for 6 weeks prior to testing
  • Are physically and mentally ready for the test, as determined by your instructor, including the ability to run a minimum of 2km
  • Have prepared for the written portion of the test by studying the UTKM Blog and Guides
  • Have Received your Firearms License (PAL)
Green Belt Assessment – Fee $100
  • Completed a minimum of 150 hours at Green belt
  • Continued to advance your fundamentals in Warrior and Defense Classes
  • Continued to advanced your novice skills in the Novice Colour Belt classes
  • Have attended enough Advanced classes to know at least 2/3 of the material
  • Ensure that you know the majority of the Green Belt Theory
  • Demonstrated competency in sparring, and can safely spare with contact
  • Have sparred at least 5 times in the Novice Colour Belt classes
  • Recorded at least 1/3 of your hours at Advanced and 1/3 at Novice Colour Belt classes
Blue Belt Test – Fee $150
  • Completed a minimum of 180 hours at Green belt,
  • Demonstrated competency in sparring, and can safely spare with contact
  • Completed at least one Green Belt Assessment
  • Demonstrated competency in the Yellow, Orange, and Green Belt Curriculum
  • Have volunteered in or witnessed a previous Orange or Green belt test
  • Have attended enough Advanced classes to know all of the material
  • Ensure that you know all of the Green Belt Theory
  • Have sparred at least 5 times in the Novice Colour Belt classes
  • Recorded at least 1/3 of your hours at Advanced and 1/3 at Novice Colour Belt classes
  • Attended classes a minimum of once a week for 6 weeks prior to testing
  • Are physically and mentally ready for the test, as determined by your instructor, including the ability to run a minimum of 5km
  • Have prepared for the written portion of the test by studying the UTKM Blog and Guides and Advanced Class theory notes
  • Have Volunteered a min of 8 times for testing or assessments
Blue Belt Assessment Fee – $200
  • Completed a minimum of 200 hours at Blue belt
  • Continued to advance your fundamentals in Warrior and Defense Classes
  • Continued to advance your novice skills in the Novice Colour Belt classes
  • Have attended enough Advanced classes to know at least 2/3 of the material
  • Demonstrated competency in the Yellow, Orange, and Green Belt Curriculum
  • Ensure that you know the Green Belt material
  • Ensure that you know at least 2/3 of the Blue Belt material
  • Demonstrated competency in sparring, and can safely spare with contact
  • Have sparred at least 5 times in the Novice Colour Belt classes
  • Recorded at least 1/3 of your hours at Advanced and 1/3 at Novice Colour Belt classes
  • Demonstrated competency in safe firearms handling for Pistol, Rifle, and Shotgun
  • Have trained or demonstrated that you have complete enough live fire training
Brown Belt Test – Fee $250
  • Completed a minimum of 280 hours at Blue belt
  • Continued to advance your fundamentals in Warrior and Defense Classes
  • Continued to advance your novice skills in the Novice Colour Belt classes
  • Have attended enough Advanced classes to know at least 2/3 of the material
  • Demonstrated competency in the Yellow, Orange, and Green Belt Curriculum
  • Ensure that you know the Green and Blue Belt material
  • Demonstrated competency in sparring, and can safely spare with contact
  • Have sparred at least 5 times in the Novice Colour Belt classes
  • Recorded at least 1/3 of your hours at Advanced and 1/3 at Novice Colour Belt classes
  • Demonstrated competency in safe firearms handling for Pistol, Rifle, and Shotgun
  • Have trained or demonstrated that you have complete enough live fire training
  • Demonstrated competency in Live fire training
  • Have Volunteered a min of 15 times for testing or assessments at all levels
  • Are physically and mentally ready for the test, as determined by your instructor, including the ability to complete a minimum 2km weighted run
  • Demonstrated competency in Krav Maga application for civilian, security and law enforcement
  •  Have prepared for the written portion of the test by studying the UTKM Blog and Guides and Advanced Class theory notes
Brown Belt Assessment – $300
  • Completed a minimum of 300 hours at Brown belt
  • Continued to advance your fundamentals in Warrior and Defense Classes
  • Continued to advance your novice skills in the Novice Colour Belt classes
  • Have attended enough Advanced classes to know at least 2/3 of the material
  • Demonstrated competency in the White, Yellow, Orange, and Green Belt Curriculum
  • Ensure that you know the Green and Blue material
  • Ensure that you know at least 2/3 of the Brown Belt material
  • Demonstrated competency in sparring, and can safely spare with contact
  • Have sparred at least 5 times in the Novice Colour Belt classes
  • Recorded at least 1/3 of your hours at Advanced and 1/3 at Novice Colour Belt classes
  • Demonstrated competency in safe firearms handling for Pistol, Rifle, and Shotgun
  • Have trained or demonstrated that you have complete enough live fire training
  • Demonstrated competency in the ability to teach all levels of UTKM material
Black Belt Test – Fee $400
  • Completed a minimum of 400 hours at Brown Belt
  • Continued to advance your fundamentals in Warrior and Defense Classes
  • Continued to advance your novice skills in the Novice Colour Belt classes
  • Have attended enough Advanced classes to know and teach all levels of UTKM techniques
  • Ensure than you know all levels of theory
  • Demonstrated competency in sparring, and can safely spare with contact
  • Recorded at least 1/3 of your hours at Advanced and 1/3 at Novice Colour Belt classes
  • Demonstrated competency in safe firearms handling for Pistol, Rifle, and Shotgun
  • Have trained or demonstrated that you have complete enough live fire training
  • Demonstrated competency in Live fire training
  • Have Volunteered a min of 20 times for testing or assessments at all levels
  • Demonstrated competency in Krav Maga application for civilian, security and law enforcement
  • Are physically and mentally ready for the test, as determined by your instructor, including the ability to complete a minimum 5km weighted run
  • Have prepared for the written portion of the test by studying the UTKM Blog and Guides and Advanced Class theory notes
    o Are prepared to teach, beginner, novice and advanced students
    o Have achieved a Blue Belt in BJJ or comparable grappling style

*Testing fees are subject to change unilaterally by UTKM.

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UTKM Belts – Our Story & Process

Posted: August 29, 2017 by urbantacticskravmaga in UTKM Testing
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What is a Belt? A belt is a milestone in progress with regards to martial arts. I couldn’t tell you why belts became common practice for ranking in martial arts I am sure someone out there could tell you. But I can tell you that Belts or more specifically the Judo Belt system was chosen early on in Krav Maga to recognize progression. Later a patch system was added in approximately 1996 when one of the first major offshoots of Krav Maga, IKMF was formed. They opted to go with the now famous patch system. Practitioner 1-5, Graduate 1-5, Expert 1-5 and Master levels.

UTKM Ranking System

So when forming a Krav Maga school with no direct parent organization there is always 2 choices, the Belt system or the Patch system. We opted for the belt system for the following reasons:

  1. Belts are more recognizable globally in the martial arts world and are easier for people to comprehend with out detailed explanation.
  2. It was the original choice and we stuck with the lineage of Imi’s decision
  3. We felt that the patch system is gimmicky and has far too many levels which in our opinion is a cash cow scheme. It was probably created to relate more to the target market of Police and Military rather than the General populous.
  4. Belts are harder to lose and easier to pass down.
Our belts have now evolved into what you see below:
IMG_20170818_130506

UTKM Branded Belts

In choosing the final design we thought about Krav Maga, and how it is designed to be practical. Thus, we wanted the belts to have more purpose than simply an indication of ranking and a symbol of UTKM. Just like our students, wanted them to be something more. The following are some possible uses for the belt (Assuming you keep it with you or even wear it outside of class).

  1. A weapon of opportunity – Because of the hard metal D-rings, the belt can be easily taken off and wielded as a weapon against would be attackers.
  2. An Emergency Rescue tool – Because the belt is made of strong webbing it could be used to pull someone or hold something in an emergency situation
  3. A tourniquet – In a true emergency it can easily be used to stop bleeding assuming, of course, you are familiar with first aid practices

This is just a short list, as the only limit is the imagination, however, like Krav Maga our belts are meant to be practical and adaptable for the given situation and of course looks stylish in the process with UTKM Branding. Who knows, perhaps out belts will literally save someone’s life some day.

Lastly, something we do at UTKM is passing down our belts. This is a tradition we adopted from the IDF, where Sargents and Officers at various points in progress will pass down their Baret or Pins to the soldiers who they feel are most deserving.

Every time a person gets a belt they write their name in a perminent marker on the back, then when they achieve the next belt level they give their belt back to the school. When the test comes for the appropriate colour if we have any lineage belts we will give them to the students who we feel for whatever reason exemplified things we want to see in our students. They then write their name on the belt and it continues the cycle until the belt has 5 signatures/names. At this point, the belt is retired and hung up for all to see on the wall of belts. Something which we have yet to create but when our first belt hits 5 signatures we will build with Joy.

So assuming there is a lineage belt to give away at the conclusion of a test here are some of the things we look for when handing out these belts.

  1. Courage & Strength – There have been cases where students have had to over come whether mentally or physicaly to pass their test. Some students in the past have injured themselves but faught through to complete the test, or were injured prior to testing but as the injury was not severe enough to re-schedule they pushed through
  2. Spirit & Attitude – Through their training they have always been in class and never have exucses no matter what is going on in their life. Or they have gone out of their way to promote the school and what it represents.

So do you have what it takes to achieve a UTKM milestone and get a belt from us, or even better prove to us you have what it takes to receive a lineage belt? There’s only one way to find out.

So ask yourself, Can you be turned from a lamb into a lion?