Philippine Taekwondo Association

by Harrell Wong
(Quezon City, Philippines)

Here's the tkd belt system for the Philippine Taekwondo Association:

White belt
Yellow belt (low)
Yellow belt (high)
Blue belt (low)
Blue belt (high)
Red belt (low)
Red belt (high)
Brown belt (1st and 2nd dan)
Black belt (1st to 9th dan)

A student can go to the next belt by taking an exam given by the PTA which evaluates mastery of knowledge regarding Taekwondo and the belt that is held and also of Taekwondo techniques, forms, stances, etc learned during the current belt held.

My current belt: Blue low (although it has been almost 10 years since I last practiced Taekwondo)

Taekwondo opened up the world of Martial Arts for me. After doing Taekwondo for 5 years, I eventually took basic lessons for Kung Fu and Karate. Self-defense is basically an instinct now even though I haven't practiced Martial Arts for almost 10 years.

The hardest part of taking Taekwondo was that getting to the next belt was very slow as there was only two examinations per year where you can apply for the next belt (this was during the days when I still practiced Taekwondo, I'm not sure what the system is now).

Even though I have mastered the previous belt, I had to wait for the examinations given by the PTA to get my next belt. This was very frustrating and I eventually entered High School and then College and I had no more time to practice Taekwondo. This is why I only managed to reach blue belt.

Deb's Reply

Hi Harrell Great to hear from you and thanks for telling us about the Philippine Taekwondo Association belt system.

Many students get frustrated and are desperate to push forward to the next belt. It's worth remembering this...

'it's not the Dan it's the Man that counts'

Wearing the next colored belt will not make you a better martial artist. There are many poor standard black belts out there.

As long as you keep moving forwards with your training and growing as a person, the belt color round your waist doesn't matter at all.

Deb :-)