Kiado-Ryu Karate



May 10, 2014 - Feature of the Week

The Number One Black Belt Quality

Have you ever wondered what the number one quality is that identifies all Black Belts? I can’t speak for other martial art studios, but in the thirty-five year history of the Karate Institute of America, from its beginning on 31 August 1979, one common thread identifies every one of its sixty-three Black Belts to date. That one quality is … persistence. They never quit. They just kept on pressing on until they achieved the very prestigious goal of becoming a KIA Black Belt.

This is most likely why Winston Churchill, arguably the greatest British leader and statesman of the 20th Century vehemently stated: Never, never, never quit.

To corroborate this most exalted virtue of never giving up, the 30th President of the United States, Calvin Coolidge, remarked:

Nothing in the world can take the place of Persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan ‘Press On’ has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.