Advanced Taekwon-Do Europe ATEU offers a solution to compensate Taekwon-Do instructors who have many years of experience, but are lagging in technical degrees (Dan). They are allowed to test for the next degree at the moment they are ready. Shortening the waiting period of a higher technical degree is an innovation available to ATEU members.
Taekwon-Do instructors can progress into a Dan degree according to the standard of the Encyclopedia, where the minimum time limits between Dans are marked. In practice, this is the ideal case, which is rarely become a reality. The time limits are given in the table and the Period column is calculated as the sum of the previous durations:
Usually, instructors with experience over 20 years are III or IV Dan (rarely V or VI Dan), although they have the years needed for VII Dan. This can be calculated according to the information from the Encyclopedia, taking as a beginning the year of obtaining a black belt (I Dan). Often, instructors lag in Dan, because they have no access to master for promotions, have limited access to international seminars, or their Taekwon-Do organization deliberately delaying them.
The table gives real information about the periods between degrees Dan of the instructor Mario Iliev from Advanced Taekwon-do Europe. When he joined ATEU in 2014 has 21 years of experience in Taekwon-Do, but only III Dan – he is lag significantly in Dan, having years enough for VI Dan (over 15.5 years). In 2015, he has promoted to IV Dan, but with a delay of 15.5 years. This delay allowed him to take the V Dan exam in 2017 by GM Lim, thus compensating for two years of the delay in the past. In 2019, he became VI Dan and compensates for another 3 years. In 2022, he was promoted to the rank of Master VII Dan, reducing the delay to 7.5 years. Thus, after four promotions in 7 years, M. Iliev has compensated 8 years and four degrees from his lag.
Advanced Taekwon-do Europe ATEU allows instructors with many years of experience, but low degree Dan to test for the next degree at the moment when they are ready. This approach to extraordinary instructor promotion is a successful innovation in Advanced Taekwon-Do, which has proven itself over the years.
