Eight Months

It's hard planning in a vacuum.

For most Gracie Jiu-Jitsu promotions it's easy. Each time a stripe is worked towards, a student is supposed to train for at least 8 months, and to have attended 100 specific classes, or more. Easy peezy.

For the big move up to a new belt there is a test which needs to be done by the Gracies in person, which means a big trip to Los Angeles.

When do you do such a thing? They refuse to assign a time or class attendance rule. They say one should do it when you feel ready. What the heck does that mean?

Anyhow, two of our Blue Belts earned their 4^th and final stripes in the middle of summer. Both asked for and successfully performed Purple Belt exams three months later.

I decided to use that as the standard to shoot for. I received my 4^th Blue Belt stripe in October, and will be in Los Angeles four months later. I've been doing loads of extra training in preparation for a Purple Belt exam during that visit.

Figured that would be reasonable.

Just recently, my instructor tried to set it up. Strangely, although there has never been an announcement of an 8-month rule such as exists for stripes, his online access was locked out. It seems there is an 8-month lockout there as well. He has had to contact HQ directly to sort things out.

Does this mean they want there to be an 8-month rule, or not? Am I bucking some kind of unspoken, implied direction? Am I going off to test when only halfway prepared?

If we lived just down the street, it would not be an issue. Being so far away, and with visiting being so difficult and expensive, it's a problem. If they were neighbours, and said, “we'd rather you waited for 8 months instead of 4,” I'd just pop over 4 months later. For me, going to Los Angeles happens when the weather around home gets crappy, wet, and cold. That means I only go there in January, February, or March, and that it also all gets planned very far in advance.

So that means that if 4 months should be considered too short, I can't do in 8 months at all. It would be a full year later, so 16 months in total.

Oh, well. The die is cast.

I think the actual exam will be pretty reasonable. Cosme did his with Rener Gracie in LA in October. He says it consisted of a regular class, followed by sparring where he was told who to roll with. It was a few Purple and Brown Belts, and then Rener rolled with him a bit. That was it.

Classes are about an hour, and are not intensive. Rolling can be much more demanding, but sparring time is only half an hour. I should be able to survive all of that easily.

There was nothing like, “demonstrate all three variants of scissor sweep.” It was all rolling; not winning, mind you, but rolling. They say they want to see a candidate being comfortable in all positions, and I assume, using sufficiently sophisticated technique, performed sufficiently well.

My instructor has requested a test date in the middle of my two-week visit. I like that, as I'll be nervous until it is all over. His way has me able to relax and really enjoy half of my training sessions.

I don't find stress conducive to good learning.