Should I continue?

**bagelgod** · Posted On: 8/27/2005 5:03pm

Hey guys, I'm not too sure where this belongs, but I'd like some real advice. I've been practicing Brazlian Jiu Jitsu for 3 years straight, 3 nights a week for 3 years. I finally turned 16, eligible for a Blue belt, and everyone in the entire School knows I deserve it. I can tap the Blue belts, and hold my own against the purple. The seminar finally came around, where the black belt (My instructor is Brown) instructor (Caique) gives promotions. I watched as the less experienced got blue belts, and as the lower ranks got stripes. I had a green belt, meant to stall until I hit blue. I wait. and I wait. I get no promotion. Its not a lack of skill, I can easily hold my own with any purple, and can technically tap blue belts. I'm not that big, so for me to tap these grown ups is pretty hard. I don't understand why I didn't get the promotion. I feel really angry, as did my fellow classmates, and they're going to ask the instructor why I didn't get a promotion, whereas they did. I am really angry, and I'm about to quit and switch to another school, or another system (Such as muay Thai). I just want some advice from an observer on the situation.

Quick Facts:

Been Training for 3 years
A few months ago I turned eligible for the belt
Tapping Blue belts, holding my own against purples
No promotion, not even a stripe on the stupid Green belt

**Camus** · Posted On: 8/27/2005 5:09pm

If you can successfully tap fully grown and trained adults, you've certainly come a long way from where you must have been when you started.

What does the belt matter?

Not to mention, why quit the style? This sounds like more of an 'issue' (if you want to call it that) with your school/instructor.

Also, is it 16 or 17 before they will give out blue? There aren't really any kids at my gym and we don't have green belts and such.

**Captain Spaulding** · Posted On: 8/27/2005 5:14pm

The thing that I like the most about moving from TKD-thinking to BJJ-thinking is that the most important thing is ability. It always irked me how the most important thing in TKD was rank. "You must bow down to the instructor, he's a 15 dan..." Even if the person stunk, you had to pretend like they were the pope or the dalai lama. It was stupid.

In BJJ, respect comes from two things: the ability to perform and the ability to teach. Aquiring these abilities tends to be more important than rank.

If you can perform like a certain rank, then people know that even if you do not have that rank. Better that way than to have a rank and not deserve it.

And I know it can be frustrating; I've been there in TKD many times. The best advice I can give you is to examine what it is that you want more: rank or ability. If the former, I would say to stop and go to a McDojo where becoming a black belt is easy and then the other students will lick your shoes. If it's the latter, then keep training and the rank will come on its own.

**bagelgod** · Posted On: 8/27/2005 5:16pm

I actually asked my instructors brother, and he said it was 16 even. The belt matters because its confidence to me, it means something, its a symbol of where I am. Can you tell me where I stand if I have a green belt? No, you can't, because Green isn't an adult grading. They use it for kids who are under 16, and upon 16, most would get a blue. A friend of mine at the school just called me, and said the instructor thought that "There are alot of bigger blue belts out there at competitions. I think he (me) should wait until he's grown and matured more before he gets the blue". I think thats really crap. There are people smaller than me that have blue belts, that makes no sense in the least. Maybe I don't see it. I really like the place, I like the people, I like it all. But I feel offended. I can hang with them, and spar with them, but I'm not good enough to be with them? Maybe not quit the style, but go to another school, or if theres isn't one, go to a different school.

(edit)

Well, yea, I've said that a while. I didn't really care if I got promoted or not. But being a Blue belt is a special thing, even if you don't care. The fact that everyone in the entire school but the instructor thinks I should be blue kind of stinks. It shows what the instructor thinks about me, that he thinks I ain't good enough, even though through sparring I am. I don't use alot of power, I can't. These are grown ups. Its all technique.

**Captain Spaulding** · Posted On: 8/27/2005 5:21pm

Half-joking he says, "Then the thing to do is tap all those new blue belts twice as often."

Honestly, I don't know the people involved, but if the situation is as you say, it might be that there's something else involved in the decision not to promote you. I don't know what it might be, or even if it's the case at all. But if something sounds odd, there's often a reason for it.

Maybe you're a real asshole. I don't know.[shrug]

**_Mick_** · Posted On: 8/27/2005 5:27pm

you definitely should quit. if you cant get a different colored piece of cloth around your waste, there is no reason to continue.

**bagelgod** · Posted On: 8/27/2005 5:27pm

Haha, I guess its cause I have long hair. Those bastards.

(edit)

Mick, I ain't out to get a black belt fast. I ain't out to get a purple fast. I don't want anything I haven't worked for. The reason I'm mad is because I've worked my ass off, never missed a class or a spar class, for 3 years. The fact that people who skip frequently get belts angers me. The fact that people who aren't as technical as I am get promoted angers me.