The Circle is now offering certifications of several different types and we are even offering them to fencers outside of our circle. The details are below.
I grew up with martial arts in the 1980s. When it comes to things like belts and ranks I have seen all the bad stuff. That is what what inspired this April fools joke and everyone that everyone thought was hilarious (except for that one guy who lost his mind over it, you know who you are.) I bring this up because it was with great hesitation that I have developed several certifications that our circle offers.
I have many examples of this kind of thing done wrong and I have a few examples of when it was done right. Let’s get it right! First, this is not “rank”. This is certification. These certifications certify that a person has demonstrated specific skills, fitness, and knowledge (yes, all three of those). People are certified by our circle of sword brothers.
I based these certifications from other similar tests that I have seen in the past and I think we have the balance right. In the end, we are doing this because laying out the skills, fitness, and knowledge required creates a road for membership to follow and a check-mark that has meaning, even outside of our circle. When a certified General Initiate moves into a new group, that new group can look at the certificate (which lists the things that were demonstrated during the test) and know what that fencer has already achieved.
This creates a baseline of growth that is helpful to many in our circle and for those that don’t find it helpful, they can just ignore it without any coercion. That is important too.
I invite other groups to develop similar certifications and I approve of them using our system of certifications as a template (you have my permission to copy us as much as you like.)
Today I will publicly release information about our first test, and I do it for this reason: regarding our General Initiate test, we will certify people who are not local and we will offer this certification remotely. If you would like to work towards this certification, contact us and let’s get to work.
After all, that is the point of it all.