Advanced Class

Our Jiu-Jitsu school has tons of White Belts, heaps of kids, and a thriving women's self-defense program.

It is shallow in the advanced-student department. There are currently 8 of us who wear Blue Belts. "Not bad," you might say.

One of the 8 is out of town for a couple of months. Another is about to leave permanently. The rest all average about half-time training due to school, work, and other reasons. I'm the only one who attends regularly.

There is a Gracie Jiu-Jitsu rule that sets 16 as the minimum age for a Blue Belt to be awarded. A couple of months ago our instructor invited into the advanced class a student who has more than completed the training requirements for Blue Belt, but who is only 15.

This has been a success both for the group and for the young man.

The instructor has just extended this to 3 other skilled young gentlemen who are in the 14-15 year age range.

A win-win situation. They are all excited to be semi-promoted, and to start learning new material. For the rest of the group, it provides more training partners and a better class energy. I imagine that as they hit age 16 they will turn Blue one at a time.

There are also a couple of adult White Belts that the instructor is trying to motivate into working towards completion of pre-Christmas Blue Belt exams.

A good thing about a healthy advanced class is that it is the pool where the instructor can fish about for teaching assistants.

Currently, there are 4 classes on Tuesday, 3 on Wednesday, 5 on Thursday, 2 on Friday and one on Saturday. That’s a lot of time on the mat our instructor. He also cannot afford to be away. His family is about to go on vacation for a month. He has to stay here.

That’s dedication.