On Hold

 

Looks like I'm waiting again for a stripe again. Usually, this is a happy thing, as it means that there has just been a promotion.

I've been expecting to get a stripe at the normal 8-month interval after receiving my Brown Belt back on December 21st of last year. That would have been sometime after August 21st. Nothing has changed with my rank, and now we are in September.

There was always a chance that this could happen. Every so often there are clerical tie-ups with the system. On the Gracie website for some reason, my last promotion is listed as February 9th. I have no idea why.

Most likely this means a delay until sometime in October.

It's hard to say if this matters at all. Things are hard enough to predict in our previous reality. Covid makes it much harder.

Before Covid, a delay of 2 months would have sifted a theoretical earliest completion of my 4 strips happening in October of 2022, instead of August. Not really a big deal. Invitations for Christmas Black Belt exams go out in the first quarter of the year. Likely I would receive one by March of 2023, for testing the following December. That's about the same either way.

With Covid? Who knows? Certainly, everything would get pushed back, but how much?

I will need to get back to real training for any further promotions. Even should my instructor allow me to progress while solo, it wouldn't seem valid for me to do so.

That will depend on getting vaccinated against Covid-19. Let's say that happens by the start of next summer. Of course, this is just a guess.

Starting from zero, the earliest I could get my 2nd stripe would be around the end of 2021, meaning the 4th would be done in April of 2023, likely somewhat later. Can't see how I'd get included in the invitations of that year. That puts my invitation realistically off until March of 2024, with Black Belt evaluation the following Christmas.

I did the math both with and without the current period of delay that I seem to be in. It didn't seem to make a lick of difference.

So I wait.