I have been a student of Gracie Jiu-Jitsu for just over ten years. It has been an enjoyable journey.
As the years went by, my rank progressed through a great many levels denoted by coloured belts, and stripes upon those belts.
Of course, my age has also progressed. I am now 65 years old.
Gaining ranks requires a certain intensity and focus in training. This doesn’t really allow much room for wider explorations of the art. It is also very hard on the body.
Things have just about reached the point in my training where I can take a deep breath, lower my intensity, and forget about rank progress.
I have two minor ranks left to earn, and should be done with that a year from now; October of 2022. There is only one possible step beyond that.
That final achievement is marked by receipt of a Black Belt.
That is an adventure in itself. A candidate’s instructor decides if the individual is ready. Normally this requires that the person is already a Gracie Brown Belt, and that all four of their Brown Belt stripe ranks have already been awarded. There seems to be some flexibility regarding the stripe ranks, but I don’t really know how that works.
Once an instructor has informed the Gracies that he wants his student tested, the candidate receives an invitation from HQ to be evaluated.
These invitations go out “early in the year,” but there may be exceptions to that. The meaning of the phrase isn’t very clear, but is usually taken to mean the invitations happen from January to perhaps April.
A candidate is invited to test for Black Belt at the next evaluation opportunity. These only happen once per year, and always just before Christmas.
As I will have the last of my Brown Belt stripes by October of 2022, my invitation to be tested for Black Belt should arrive early in 2023, for the exam that happens in December.
It was my privilege to help a friend of mine prepare for his Black Belt test throughout all of 2019. He expected to be tested around Christmas of that year, and so we got rolling in January, before his invitation came.
There used to be 4 optional technical exams. The Gracies made it known that completion of any or all of these would count greatly towards any belt exam. Shawn had previously done the first two, and our immediate goal was the get through the months of work required to polish off the rest.
He got his invitation in April, and on we worked. When the technical exams were done we slid seamlessly into working on the actual Black Belt exam syllabus. That also took many months of work, but we got Shawn heavily drilled in all of it.
My role for both the technical tests and the Black Belt test preparation was as the opponent for the material being covered. There were actually two of us in that role, simply to make it less demanding on any one person.
He went to LA in December as ready as possible, and was awarded his Black Belt.
My own plan is to do something similar between now and a Christmas ’23 test date.
Since Shawn’s test, the number for technical exams has doubled to 8. I want to get them all done. I completed the first one years ago, and have the second ready to submit. That leaves me 6 to go.
I will also have to prepare the Black Belt exam material to a high level of proficiency. Two years seems about the right amount of time to get this all done.
There is a chance that I’ll only have only half as much time to get ready.
It is possible that my instructor will submit a request to the Gracies that I test a year earlier. They might invite me after my next Brown Belt stripe promotion in February, with the expectation that I would receive my 4th in October, and then that I would test in December of 2022.
A very good thing about this is that I would be just a kid of 66 at my Black Belt test, instead of being a worn-out old man of 67.
That probably doesn’t sound like much, but it’s actually pretty huge.
The downside would be that it would likely be impossible to complete all of the technical exams.
I’ve thought about both possibilities, and as both have pros and cons, would be happy about either option.
Now as to the test itself; what are my chances of passing?
My friend did his big test at about ten years younger than I will be doing mine. It was three days long, and candidates were pushed very hard. When I asked him if he would have made it if the test were one day longer, and without hesitation he said an emphatic,”no!”
I’ll be older, and will fade much more quickly than my friend. I will also be much more likely to get injured during the testing. In general, I get damaged more than my younger peers, but with exhaustion will be even more likely to get sidelined. Not finishing means not passing.
Perhaps they take age into account, but they’ve never actually said so.
I call it an even chance.
If I pass, my training will change to something more sustainable over the long haul. It is possible to continue on the mat well past my current age, but not at my current pace. Without the pressure of promotions and exams one can be much more body-savvy about things.
The plan if I fail will be pretty much the same as if I pass. For the sake of my longevity on the mat I will let the idea of a Black Belt go. My rank will become etched in stone as a 4 stripe Brown Belt.
Just as I would do as a Black Belt, I will shift gears to a sustainable pace. The pressure of promotion and exam will be permanently retired.
Just as I will be OK with either likely test date, I will also be fine with either possible outcome.
My new goal will be to continue on the mat as close to forever as possible.
