Either Way

 

So this year could be one of three Jiu-Jitsu promotions for me.

The first happened last month, and the second should happen in October. Those will be for stripes on my Brown Belt.

The third would be the big one.

It means getting down to Los Angeles to the big, yearly Black Belt mass evaluation just before Christmas.

Every training minute of my year will have been focused on preparing for that event. Actually more like a year-and-a-quarter. I started getting ready a few months ago.

All good training, of course, but quite a few Jiu-Jitsu projects would otherwise I have gotten involved with are on hold until after my Black Belt exam.

Of course, in December there will be considerable expense in getting down south. The exam is almost dawn-to-dusk for four days, so a minimum hotel stay would be 6 days long.

If all goes well, by Christmas I should have a shiny, new Black Belt.

However, such a thing isn’t guaranteed. If it were, why would there even be an evaluation event? I could be found wanting, and not pass.

I’m also crazy old to be doing Jiu-Jitsu (I’ll be 66 years old for the December exam), and could easily get injured badly enough at the test that I cannot finish the process. It is an extremely demanding event.

I could also get hurt before going south, or perhaps get sick or some such thing. This would also prevent a successful progression to Black Belt.

What would I do if any of those nasty events came to pass? The very next chance at a do-over would be a full 12 months later.

Those 12 months would again be totally focused on preparation for going to LA.

I’ve decided that I won’t want to do that. My remaining number of years in Jiu-Jitsu is limited. If I pass the test, I will move on to other Jiu-Jitsu focus areas. If I don’t pass the test, I will also move on.

I will not go for a second Black Belt examination, but will instead be content with my Brown Belt.

There is no real downside to this, and an enormous amount of training would be free for other objectives, not to mention the amount of money that another exam and trip to LA would entail.

Early on in my Jiu-Jitsu years it looked as if a Purple Belt was almost a pipe dream, and anything beyond that was quite impossible. I enjoyed my White and Blue Belt years, and then the promotion rules shifted. Purple became a real possibility, and in no time at all I received a Purple Belt.

Now I am a Brown Belt, and almost at the end of that path. It would be no hardship to stick at that level for the rest of my Jiu-Jitsu years.

Of course, I still plan on doing everything I can to earn a Black Belt by Christmastime. It would make a nice stocking stuffer.