Senior Taekwondo

Martial arts while in university?

I’m entering my senior year in high school, and I’m a green belt in WTF taekwondo. My biggest concern is that I’ll be in university by the time I’d be able to test for my 1st degree black belt. I’m planning to major in architecture, and it’s not one of the easiest majors out there, so I’m thinking I won’t have any free time to train for my black belt let alone have a social life. I also don’t know whether or not a university martial arts club offers black belt testing. Also, would it be possible for someone to obtain a black belt in two years? My school is not a Mcdojo, and people are saying that I’m quite advanced for my belt level, so would skipping a few belts be possible to test for black belt before university comes around? For those who are already in their 20+, and have a black belt, how were you able to train in your art while still maintaining good grades in university?

This is my experience with this situation:

There is still time to train in martial arts in college, though perhaps not as much. I trained 8 to 12 hours per week my senior year of high school, which was when I got my 1st degree. I trained about 3 to 4 hours per week in college, which is enough time to maintain your skill level where its at, but perhaps not enough to advance it at the same pace you have been. Just for reference I was a chemical engineer, which is not an easy major either, so yes, architecture should still leave time to train.

As for your questions about the school vs university martial arts clubs… I doubt your school will let you skip belts. Most good schools won’t. University martial arts clubs tend not to be as good as a quality dojo, and most of them will not do black belt testing, although some of them are affiliated with a local dojo that will. They also tend to be free or close to it, and you get what you pay for. There were good quality dojos around, but in college I was the one paying and not my parents, and so I couldn’t always afford to go to them. If you can afford it, there’s nothing that’ll stop you from finding a good WTF school near your college and continuing your training uninterrupted.

For me college became a time for broadening my martial arts experience rather than deepening it. I took advantage of the cheap clubs and used this time to study Shotokai, Judo, Kung Fu, and both sport and traditional Taekwondo in addition to my original and primary style.

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