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Martial arts innovator Tom Callos thinks black belt
testing needs a serious makeover. He’s not particularly happy
with the state of black belt testing in our industry. He’s
not particularly pleased with the results many schools get from their
curriculum and
black belt testing process. He thinks we can do better. In fact,
he thinks he knows what we should do to “fix” black belt
testing. He just might be right.
The 45-year-old Ernie Reyes protégé has
come up with a new black belt testing program, The Ultimate Black
Belt Test, which
he says will very likely “change the way black belt testing
is conducted, worldwide.” That’s a bold statement, but
in Callos’ case, it’s a real possibility. Callos has
already had a significant impact on the martial arts industry and
been instrumental in changing and enhancing many procedures and practices
in schools around the world. His introductory lesson for beginners
was filmed and widely distributed by Educational Funding Company
beginning in the 1980’s and many of his methods are now standard
fare in the industry. As a consultant and content provider to the
National Association of Professional Martial Artists (NAPMA), Callos
invented new curriculum and programs with remarkable regularity.
His teaching methods like “The Three Rules of Concentration,” “The
Black Belt Success Cycle,” the “Polite Greeting,” the “Polite
Departure,” and the “Cool Down” are popular and
widely used. Callos’ educational and character development
programs such as “The Way of the Phone,” the “NAPMA
Children’s Curriculum,” the “Follow-Up Meter,” and
the “Random Acts of Kindness Program” have influenced
and inspired a generation of instructors and school owners. Over
the last two years the Martial Arts Industry Association (MAIA) has
collaborated with Callos on developing the revolutionary “Six
Tasks Character Development Program,” “MAIA”s Safety
School,” and a teacher’s tool called “the Instructor’s
Cube.”
Callos’ close friend Dave Kovar, a well-known
innovator in his own right, coined Callos the “Thomas Edison
of the martial arts world.”
“
Tom gets focused on something and then goes nuts with ideas about
it, “says Kovar. “He’s one of the most enthusiastic
people I know and when he puts his thinking cap on, you can bet that
something interesting is going to come out of it. If Tom says he’s
going to change black belt testing around the world, then there’s
a very good chance it’s going to happen.”
Callos’ Ultimate Black Belt Test (UBBT) is a 13-month program
that requires its participants (the test is open to black belts only)
to perform a wide variety of tasks and challenges. Each activity
is designed to create a personal transformation in the participant.
In addition to the UBBT’s required “tasks,” each
participant customizes their own test to meet his or her own ambitions,
goals, and needs (Callos does this individually with each tester).
These concepts says Callos, are two of the most important ideas behind
the program. “The black belt test of the future won’t
be held on a day or a weekend, it won’t culminate with a single
performance, but with a long-term, consistent, habit-forming series
of behaviors and accomplishments. The real black belt test won’t
be one where the tester does a beautiful form or performs 100 push-ups
in a row, it will be that the tester had the courage and self-discipline
to practice the form or do his or her push-ups every day for a year.
The testing process will develop long-term changes, physically, mentally,
emotionally, and spiritually, and it will do this by changing the
tester’s daily behaviors for a long enough period --and with
enough focus --to make a real difference.” Callos adds that
the black belt test of the future will be customized to meet the
needs of the individual. “A 20-year-old doesn’t have
the same needs as a 45-year-old or a 14-year-old. Every black belt
test should challenge the individual to stretch themselves in every
way, but intelligently and within his or her personal capabilities.” By
adopting this idea says Callos, instructors will increase student
retention, improve their business, and truly meet the needs of their
students –as unique individuals.
Mike Valentine of San Rafael,
California owns and operates Practical Martial Arts and Marin Karate
Kids. He was the first person to enroll
in the UBBT. "Because I have crossed trained in many different
styles such as Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, Muay Thai and amateur boxing,
I have not advanced in my in my original traditional art for over
18 years. Through cross-training I had become a Mixed Martial Artist
and, until now, there was no way to pursue higher rank. I see the
UBBT as the perfect way to earn new rank, but more importantly, I
feel that the UBBT is requiring me to 'walk the talk'. If I pass
the test it will represent a huge personal achievement because it
has required me to grow in every aspect of my life. The curriculum
for the test has me living the life of an athlete, a warrior, a monk,
and a leader. I love it and I know I wouldn't have been able to challenge
myself like this without the UBBT."
It is the curriculum that Callos has set for UBBT
participants that makes the program, well, unique. Each participant
is tasked to perform
1000 acts of kindness and be responsible for 50,000 from his or her
students and community. They must also complete 1000 rounds of sparring,
1000 repetitions of a single form, 52,000 push-ups and sit-ups, earn
their blue belt in jiu-jitsu, take 25 hours of boxing lessons, do
1000 repetitions of a two-man stick-fighting routine, complete the
Fit For Life training program, meditate 15 minutes a day, read a
dozen books, spend a day in a wheelchair, a day blind, a day mute,
fix three wrongs they have done in their life, right three relationships
gone bad, and do an environmental clean up project.
What, you might
ask, do acts of kindness, a day in a wheelchair, and an environmental
clean up project have to do with the martial
arts and achieving a black belt? Callos puts it simply:
“These concepts are about building character and compassion,
which has everything to do with the martial arts. This event isn’t
so much about the ultimate martial arts experience as it is about
living the ultimate lifestyle. Mastery of the martial arts is nothing
if it isn’t a quest to become a better human being. Funakoshi
wrote, ‘The ultimate aim of karate lies not in victory nor
defeat, but in the perfection of the character of its participants.’”
Kung
Fu stylist Anthony Pasquale of Danvers, Massachusetts was one of
the last people to enroll in the initial UBBT. Pasquale says it
was easy to for him
to see the merits of the program, such as a reason to train and to learn
new material, but the UBBT has paid off for him in an unexpected
way. Since joining
Pasquale has been a fixture in his local and surrounding area newspapers. “The
test has created more press for my school in the last two months than I’d
been able to drum up in the last 5 years,” says Pasquale. The local media
has jumped on Pasquale’s personal test goal of being responsible for
one million acts of kindness (the test requires only 51,000). “The UBBT
has challenged me to be a better martial artist, a better teacher, a better
husband, and a better person,” notes Pasquale, “it has, fortunately,
caused me to reevaluate the level in which I push myself and my students. I
knew the test was going to make me grow, but I didn’t know the program
would make me a sort of home-town hero.”
The UBBT as a Business Development Program
According to Callos, the concept for the UBBT came to him when he was thinking
about martial arts business. “I’ve been working on the business
of the martial arts for many years --and one day last year it all clicked for
me. It occurred to me that the most important component for success in martial
arts business was the product. The better the product, the better the school,
no matter what business methods they used. So the UBBT came to be when I realized
that for a school owner, he or she IS the product. The better they are, physically,
mentally, emotionally, and spiritually, the better the school does. When someone
is living the martial arts lifestyle, they have a kind of light inside of them
that attracts people. Ernie Reyes, Sr. has that light, so do masters like Wally
Jay and Chuck Norris, Jhoon Rhee, Myung Gi, and Helio Gracie. I designed the
UBBT to encompass the things that I felt would create that kind of person.” Callos
coined a new motivational phrase that he says sums up the program: “When
the student is ready, the teacher appears –and when the TEACHER is ready,
the students appear.”
The participants in the UBBT met for the first
time on a four-day backpacking Eco-adventure trip along the Pacific
Crest Trail near
Lake Tahoe, CA in July. On the first day of the adventure Master
Ernie Reyes, Sr. came up from San Jose to wish the group well and
Dave Kovar of Sacramento performed part of his 7th-degree black belt
test for the team. The group then covered 35 miles with heavy packs
on a grueling but beautiful High Sierra trail, training in Kali and
performing their katas along the way. UBBT participant Tommy Lee
of Annapolis, Maryland did the trip with a barely-healed sprained
ankle. “I wasn’t sure I could make it,” Said Lee, “but
in the spirit of participating in the ‘ultimate’ test,
I wasn’t going to miss out. In the end, I had one of the best
times of my life. I came out of that event with a deeper appreciation
for the team spirit my black belts feel when they go through hardships
together; it is a very empowering feeling and one I’m going
remember when I’m trying to create a stronger team in my own
school.”
It is the idea of becoming a student again that
Tom Callos says is the part of the UBBT experience that is the most
fun
-and the most enlightening. “Being
a teacher is great,” says Callos, “but being a student is like
being a wide-eyed kid again. I think that a lot of teachers forget how fun
it is to be a student and I think they forget what it feels like to be on that
side of the fence.” Callos asserts that the UBBT is about being the ultimate
black belt by becoming the ultimate student. Each participant gets to show
their students, by example, the behavior and etiquette of a black belt test
candidate. The extensive requirements for the test helps to put the student’s
experience into perspective and the UBBT participant comes out at the end with
a story to tell his or her students based on current exploits, rather than
on experiences of the distant past.
“There are a lot of very challenging black belt tests in our industry,” says
Callos. “Just the other day I spoke with someone who has a 3-day test where
they don’t allow their candidates to sleep or eat during the process. While
that’s definitely very tough, it’s not at all smart. I think the
tough part of earning and being a black belt isn’t in a short performance
or in a enduring a torturous and potentially life threatening experience; it
is in internalizing black belt concepts so that they are a part of one’s
daily life. As a teacher I’d rather inspire someone to prepare themselves
with a year’s worth of good eating habits, meditation, daily practice,
and the consistent pursuit of personal excellence than I would prefer to cause
them a weekend of pain I probably couldn’t endure myself.”
Mike Valentine
offers his appreciation for the UBBT, “I’m now training
to be the martial artist, the teacher, and the person I’ve always wanted
to be. This test is forcing me to do the things I know I should have been doing
all along. When this event is over I’ve committed myself to continuing
a lifestyle that creates the ultimate life. I’m also completely reworking
the methods I’m using to test my own students.”
For Tom Callos,
that’s the ultimate compliment.
The second test, the Ultimate
Black Belt Test III, is open and Callos is accepting applications.
Callos may be reached by e-mail at tom@tomcallos.com or
by phone at 530-621-0875. The UBBT website is www.ultimateblackbelttest.com.
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