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Rank Examiner Certification
Rank Examiner certificates
are available to all martial artists that are approved for certification by the SMAA.
A martial artist that desires rank examiner certification with the SMAA must first have
his level of ability (as a rank examiner, in addition to his
technical skills and his ability as an instructor)
confirmed before any level of rank examiner certification can
be made. This confirmation must be in the form of personal or video
demonstration. Various levels of certification are available and have
different requirements in addition to the above:
Certified Assistant Rank Examiner must be recommended by his own teacher. There is
no minimum rank requirement.
Certified Rank Examiner must be recommended by his own teacher (if he has one.)
This certification is available only to martial artists who hold the rank of 1st,
2nd, or 3rd dan rank.
Certified Senior Rank Examiner must be recommended by his own teacher (if he has one) and must
have at least one student who is an SMAA Certified Assistant Rank Examiner
or higher. This certification is available only to martial artists who
hold the rank of 4th, 5th or 6th dan.
Certified Master Rank Examiner must be recommended by his own teacher (if he has one)
and must have at least one student who is an SMAA Certified Assistant Rank Examiner
or higher. This certification is available only to martial artists who
hold the rank of 7th, 8th or 9th dan rank)
Certified Senior Master Rank Examiner must be recommended by his own teacher (if he has one) and
must have at least one student who is an SMAA Certified Master Rank
Examiner or higher. This certification is available only to martial
artists who hold the rank of 10th dan rank)
Once certified at the appropriate level, SMAA Rank Examiners
are authorized to promote their own students up to one rank
below their own, except in the case of promotion to 10th
degree. All promotions to the rank of 10th degree must be
approved by the SMAA’s senior leadership.
SMAA ranks or certifications as Instructor and/or Rank Examiner
certification may be revoked at any time by unanimous vote of the Yudansha Taigu.
One must first be certified at their rank (except in arts
that do not use numbered ranks) then they may be considered for
instructor certification. After receiving
instructor certification, one may be considered for rank examiner
certification. Contact the SMAA for information on
instructor or rank examiner certification if your art does not use a numbered rank system.
Rank examiner certification fee is to be
paid after confirming the individual’s level of ability.
Once an SMAA member is certified as instructor or rank examiner, the SMAA will accept rank
registrations and instructor and rank examiner certifications that the
club instructor or club leader recommends their students for up to and
including one rank or one certification below their own. Recommendations
by club instructors and/or club leaders will not be considered if that
club instructor/leader is not certified as an SMAA Certified Instructor
and SMAA Certified Rank Examiner at the appropriate level.
Some may consider this verification process unnecessary, but
nothing could be further from the truth! No instructor would promote or
certify an individual without actually seeing what they are capable of
performing at, and we are in the very same position – but on a much larger
scale. If some feel this process is unwarranted, then clearly they are not
the type of martial artist the SMAA is looking for!
It is our sincere hope that each and every SMAA member understands the
reason for this…it is not meant to doubt an individual’s ability or question
their integrity…it is merely to confirm the ability of those
individuals that the SMAA has no personal knowledge of. If we document
their skill level in person or on video, then we are 100% justified in
certifying that individual at the appropriate level and NO ONE can ever
question our motives or integrity, or the credentials that we have
awarded. This is quite different from many other organizations where you
can just send in your money to get whatever rank or certification you want, and often all
of this is done with no form of verification of that individual’s ability.
You will also note that we have reduced many of the fees for
certifications and promotions...we don’t ever want money to be a factor in
how we administer our services to the martial arts…quite a change from how
things have been done in the past.
PLEASE NOTE:
We do not wish to circumvent the traditional teacher/student relationship in any way.
If an individual is currently under the guidance of an instructor, the SMAA
will only work with that individual once we have the express consent and
blessing of his/her instructor.
The SMAA encourages the highest level of loyalty to one's instructor and seniors. Please don't
ask us to undermine this loyalty by going behind your instructor's back
to explore possible rank evaluation, promotion and certification - we
will never knowingly work with another instructor's students unless
given permission to do so by that instructor.
Donn Schucker, Executive Director
P.O. Box 2171
Florissant, MO 63032-2171
Phone: (314) 606-7306
Email: ds@smaa-martialarts.com
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