Swampy Ranks

I use my powers to see into the future and to predict our Jiu-Jitsu school's upcoming round of promotions.

Gonna ignore people getting three or four stripes, as that won't happen until October at the earliest. That's too far off to worry about.

However, we do have 3 people ready to roll from a single stripe into having two.

The first of these has near-perfect attendance, and will fulfill the minimum attendance requirement today. She only has to keep training, and to wait until the minimum period of 8 months is up, which will happen in July.

The other two have had a harder time getting on the mat sometimes. They have careers and lives that conflict. Promotion for them is long over due. If they can manage 3 classes a week, they will finish up in mid summer. If not, it will take longer still.

One of them has had a job change that will remove him from shift work. This means that he will be able to become the mat rat that he's always tried to be. He should be done by early August.

Rank progress is difficult in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. It is pretty hard to see change.

Let me explain with reference to a more typically structured martial art; Shotokan Karate.

In Karate, every little gradation in rank is denoted with a different colour belt. People work together on most things, but each level has it's own unique curriculum that must be mastered. Pass a test, get a new belt, and work on different stuff.

In Jiu-Jitsu it is very different.

Come and watch our advanced class. You will see a bunch of people all working together on EXACTLY the same material. All of us wear Blue Belts. The only difference is that our belts have from zero to 3 little white stripes down on one end. The maximum number of stripes is 4, but we don't have anybody with that many yet.

Unlike Karate, you don't get a belt when you progress in rank, or work in different material. You just smile at your little white stripe, and get back to work in the same, big group.

In Karate, rank seems like steps to be climbed.

In Jiu-Jitsu, rank seems to be a swamp to be slogged through.

In Karate, you earn a new Belt every 3 or 4 months.

In Jiu-Jitsu, a new Belt takes at least 4 years, and even a stripe takes as long as several Karate Belts.

In Karate, a Black Belt takes about 4 years, which is about how long it takes to get a Jiu-Jitsu Purple Belt.

In Jiu-Jitsu, a Black Belt takes about 12 years, by which time a Karateka would have reached about third-degree Black Belt rank.

In Karate, a Black Belt is considered a beginner.

In Jiu-Jitsu, a Black Belt is considered a master of the art.

It's a slow road.