Contact

Progress in Jiu-Jitsu progresses at an even, and predictable pace.

The only irregularities are the positive contacts that individuals have with the Gracies.

For our school, the contacts that our instructor has with the big boys has an effect in several ways. Of course, he gains ideas, tips, and motivation, but also his level of promotion authorization.

Let me explain. Our instructor is authorized to do local promotions, based on Gracie criteria. He can promote up to one level beneath his own. His own promotions come from direct evaluation by the Gracies. He cannot award new belt colours, only stripes. Only the Gracies give belts.

That means that the highest he can can currently promote to would be Blue Belt 4 stripe, as he is a Purple Belt. He received that rank around June of last year.

He expects to train briefly in LA next month, at a seminar in Seattle in May, again at the summer camp, and a 4th time at instructor training in July. They will certainly promote him somewhere in there, but the question is, “how far?”

If he were an average student training in LA and had received a Purple Belt in June of 2014 he would be due for a first stripe next month, and another in October. As an instructor he is so much more than an average student.

I would assume he will receive somewhere from one to three stripes. We shall see.

For myself it doesn't matter much. I won't be looking for a local stripe promotion beyond what he can provide until very late in 2017. That's a very long way off. By then his level will be much higher, and so will his authorization to promote.

We do have folks that might just run into a roadblock. I'm sure that Scott is hoping for a Purple Belt much sooner than I am. He might run into a ceiling a year earlier than me, in late 2016. It is all theoretical, as that is about 2 years away.

Anyhow, that's instructor contact.

I am the student from around here who is the luckiest when it comes to Gracie training.

In this coming year, I have two contacts happening. I will be down in LA for a couple of weeks of training pretty soon, and will be at the Seattle seminar in May. This has nothing to do with rank, but with knowledge and motivation.

I get to train and roll with many students outside from of my usual, little circle. I also get to train on technique of every level imaginable. My brain gets really, really full.

It's truly great, and I get to go to Disneyland.