There
have been three different sets of expectation regarding rank during
my short, Jiu-Jitsu career.
When I started, there was a well-established route from White Belt to Blue. It proceeded with mathematical precision, and culminated with a comprehensive exam. This all took an average of a year. This hasn't changed a lick.
For Blue Belts, there were four little stripes to earn and add to one's Belt. Beyond that was the mythical jump to Purple Belt and beyond.
To get each stripe there was a daunting amount of curriculum to master, with exams that made the one White Belts took look like a cake walk. When I was a White Belt this was all theoretical. The curriculum was only released for the first of the stripes, and the test for that level did not exist. Nothing beyond that was out at all.
That meant that for students at an outlying Certified Training Centre, the highest practical rank was Blue Belt.
About the time I left my White Belt behind, the first Blue Belt stripe exam came out, and the ceiling became Blue Belt with one stripe.
Headquarters wanted us to know that they were working hard to get the higher stuff out more quickly, but somehow I doubted it. This was important as it wasn't the speed that the students progressed that determined their rank, but rather the speed that the curriculum could keep up.
Just recently, the test for second stripe was released. This took about 2.5 years. In comparison, at the headquarters school students progress at the rate of a stripe every 8 months.
This all mixed together was the first expectation of progress in my Jiu-Jitsu career.
I worked very hard as a Blue Belt, and got my first stripe after only a year and a half. This banged me right into the glass ceiling. At that point I had caught up to the curriculum.
The Gracies decided to put things more in line with headquarters rank.
They decided the same rules of HQ would prevail, and that Certified Training Centres could award stripes on that basis.
These rules were that a student amass 8 months of training and attendance of at least 100 appropriate classes. After that the local instructor could choose to promote them.
This was great. Instead of the four Blue Belt stripes taking 10 years to earn, they would now take only 32 months.
Everybody started talking as if promotions were now 8 months apart.
This was the second rank paradigm that I laboured under. It was just as wrong, except this time on the side of over-optimism.
We are coming up to the 8 month anniversary of 6 of our students since their last promotion. Of the 6, only 2 will become eligible for promotion. The others are no where near completing their attendance requirements.
My own 8-month period ended at the start of November, but I won't have the attendance requirement completed until just over two months later.
Promotion is now possible in 8 months, but the average time will be closer to a year.
This is my third understanding of how promotion works in Gracie Jiu-Jitsu.
It isn't 10 years to do one's Blue Belt stripes, nor it is 32 months. It looks like it is closer to 4 years.
The step after that is to Purple Belt. There is no fixed amount of time or attendance, and it isn't awarded locally. It represents about what a Black Belt does in most other arts.
A candidate must be evaluated by Ryron or Rener Gracie in person, or by a Black Belt designated by them. This means setting up an evaluation when a seminar is close to home, or by travel to their school in Los Angeles.
Then there are four stripes for Purple Belt; another evaluation to get a Brown Belt; four more stripes for Brown; and another evaluation for Black Belt.
This road to Black isn't the 37.5 year road it first seemed, nor the 10 year one that is theoretically possible, but rather more like 15 years.
All very simple really, until I found out that one of the instructors at HQ went from White Belt to Black in 7 years. SEVEN YEARS?
When I started, there was a well-established route from White Belt to Blue. It proceeded with mathematical precision, and culminated with a comprehensive exam. This all took an average of a year. This hasn't changed a lick.
For Blue Belts, there were four little stripes to earn and add to one's Belt. Beyond that was the mythical jump to Purple Belt and beyond.
To get each stripe there was a daunting amount of curriculum to master, with exams that made the one White Belts took look like a cake walk. When I was a White Belt this was all theoretical. The curriculum was only released for the first of the stripes, and the test for that level did not exist. Nothing beyond that was out at all.
That meant that for students at an outlying Certified Training Centre, the highest practical rank was Blue Belt.
About the time I left my White Belt behind, the first Blue Belt stripe exam came out, and the ceiling became Blue Belt with one stripe.
Headquarters wanted us to know that they were working hard to get the higher stuff out more quickly, but somehow I doubted it. This was important as it wasn't the speed that the students progressed that determined their rank, but rather the speed that the curriculum could keep up.
Just recently, the test for second stripe was released. This took about 2.5 years. In comparison, at the headquarters school students progress at the rate of a stripe every 8 months.
This all mixed together was the first expectation of progress in my Jiu-Jitsu career.
I worked very hard as a Blue Belt, and got my first stripe after only a year and a half. This banged me right into the glass ceiling. At that point I had caught up to the curriculum.
The Gracies decided to put things more in line with headquarters rank.
They decided the same rules of HQ would prevail, and that Certified Training Centres could award stripes on that basis.
These rules were that a student amass 8 months of training and attendance of at least 100 appropriate classes. After that the local instructor could choose to promote them.
This was great. Instead of the four Blue Belt stripes taking 10 years to earn, they would now take only 32 months.
Everybody started talking as if promotions were now 8 months apart.
This was the second rank paradigm that I laboured under. It was just as wrong, except this time on the side of over-optimism.
We are coming up to the 8 month anniversary of 6 of our students since their last promotion. Of the 6, only 2 will become eligible for promotion. The others are no where near completing their attendance requirements.
My own 8-month period ended at the start of November, but I won't have the attendance requirement completed until just over two months later.
Promotion is now possible in 8 months, but the average time will be closer to a year.
This is my third understanding of how promotion works in Gracie Jiu-Jitsu.
It isn't 10 years to do one's Blue Belt stripes, nor it is 32 months. It looks like it is closer to 4 years.
The step after that is to Purple Belt. There is no fixed amount of time or attendance, and it isn't awarded locally. It represents about what a Black Belt does in most other arts.
A candidate must be evaluated by Ryron or Rener Gracie in person, or by a Black Belt designated by them. This means setting up an evaluation when a seminar is close to home, or by travel to their school in Los Angeles.
Then there are four stripes for Purple Belt; another evaluation to get a Brown Belt; four more stripes for Brown; and another evaluation for Black Belt.
This road to Black isn't the 37.5 year road it first seemed, nor the 10 year one that is theoretically possible, but rather more like 15 years.
All very simple really, until I found out that one of the instructors at HQ went from White Belt to Black in 7 years. SEVEN YEARS?
How
the hell is that even possible?
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