"The first and most important criteria for promotion is performance. Can you successfully apply your moves in live training in the gym against people in the belt category above yours? Or, for those who like to compete, have you consistently excelled in local compeitions within your current rank? To this fundamental demand I add some other considerations. There may be some handicaps that a student has that soften my demand for performance. The age of the student, for example. I don't expect a 55 year old blue belt student to tap out 22 year old purple belts. I also look at the breadth and precision of the student's technique. If he consistently wins in class with only a few sloppy moves from a limited number of positions due mostly to advantages in strength and size, I will be reluctant to promote him until he improves his technical repertoire. In general I am fairly easy in giving out belts as I do not attach great importance to them. If you make jiu jitsu a lifetime study (as I hope all my students do), the vast majority of your training years will be at black belt level and beyond, so the amount of time taken to acquire the various early belts is not a significant issue. In all truth, you do most of your learning over a life time post-black belt. Accordingly I see people growing into their belts over time, so I don't like to hold people back in rank forever. "
Great words from John. Interesting too because Renzo's school has always had a reputation as being a pretty hard school to get your belts from. I remember when everybody equated their experienced blues to experienced purples at any other gym. Every Renzo guy I have trained with has been quite impressive.
I don't think it's a lie. He probably does feel like he is easy with promotions. But a lot of people believe it is very difficult to be promoted by him.
I like what they're saying about giving out belts. Being a black belt doesn't make you untappable or bulletproof - it's just a guy who love the sports and keeps training. Attitude, for me, is very important. You want someone who's a representing the sport to, generally, be a good person.
Not sure about the whole no gi belt thing... I've always felt if you want a belt, train in the gi. If you just like grappling, do nogi. You don't wear a belt in nogi so you're ranked like how they do in most nogi tournaments - novice, beginner, intermediate and advanced.
Do you really expect me to give contrary thoughts to John?
I've actually heard Renzo and my instructor say pretty much the same thing so I reckon that is the mindset I've been raised with in the art.
That's kinda how I feel- try to stick with what John and Renzo believe haha.
Aside from this, John and Renzo both believe in giving out BJJ black belts to people that just train in No Gi.
What do people think about that?
I once thought it was odd, but then again, its John and Renzo we are talking about!
are you sure this is true? pretty certain that when Rolls gave Rashad a black belt, Renzo said he would not have done it because of Rashad's lack of experience in the gi
I'm 99% sure John does, and I'm pretty sure Renzo ok's the black belt promtions (not entirely sure about this).
The big difference I see with this and Rashad's case is that the people John promotes are people that train with him on a regular/daily basis, where Rashad did not do this with Rolls.
Do you really expect me to give contrary thoughts to John?
I've actually heard Renzo and my instructor say pretty much the same thing so I reckon that is the mindset I've been raised with in the art.
That's kinda how I feel- try to stick with what John and Renzo believe haha.
Aside from this, John and Renzo both believe in giving out BJJ black belts to people that just train in No Gi.
What do people think about that?
I once thought it was odd, but then again, its John and Renzo we are talking about!
are you sure this is true? pretty certain that when Rolls gave Rashad a black belt, Renzo said he would not have done it because of Rashad's lack of experience in the gi
I'm 99% sure John does, and I'm pretty sure Renzo ok's the black belt promtions (not entirely sure about this).
The big difference I see with this and Rashad's case is that the people John promotes are people that train with him on a regular/daily basis, where Rashad did not do this with Rolls.
Actually, at the time Rashad was indeed training with Rolles on a regular basis, although arguments could be made about whether he had been doing so "long enough".
Wutang - I like what they're saying about giving out belts. Being a black belt doesn't make you untappable or bulletproof - it's just a guy who love the sports and keeps training. Attitude, for me, is very important. You want someone who's a representing the sport to, generally, be a good person.
Not sure about the whole no gi belt thing... I've always felt if you want a belt, train in the gi. If you just like grappling, do nogi. You don't wear a belt in nogi so you're ranked like how they do in most nogi tournaments - novice, beginner, intermediate and advanced.
Belts and the beginner/intermediate/advanced classification measure different things right? Belts are an indication of skill while (at least according to the rules in competition) beginner/intermediate/advanced is a recognition of time training.
Wutang - I like what they're saying about giving out belts. Being a black belt doesn't make you untappable or bulletproof - it's just a guy who love the sports and keeps training. Attitude, for me, is very important. You want someone who's a representing the sport to, generally, be a good person.
Not sure about the whole no gi belt thing... I've always felt if you want a belt, train in the gi. If you just like grappling, do nogi. You don't wear a belt in nogi so you're ranked like how they do in most nogi tournaments - novice, beginner, intermediate and advanced.
Belts and the beginner/intermediate/advanced classification measure different things right? Belts are an indication of skill while (at least according to the rules in competition) beginner/intermediate/advanced is a recognition of time training.
In competition, yes - but over the years it's gotten foggy because people are now using their gi rank to decide what division they compete in.
Kying- I swear I saw an interview where Renzo was talking about something with a seperate belt ranking system he goes by with nogi and gi. He awards belts in nogi but that doesn't mean they are the same rank in the gi.
Ol' Dirty - John is definitely not easy when it comes to giving out promotions. Fact.
Yeah, I got the vibe that when Danaher was saying he is easy on it he was just being modest or rather he likes to focus on other aspects of bjj. I'm assuming there is nothing easy about anything Danaher or Renzo.
Too many people are focused on getting the next stripe, next belt, etc. I for one enjoy the training (when I can ) It is my outlet. I honestly don't even know how many stripes I have (don't really care) I enjoy the sport, I enjoy the other guys at the gym (except for CJJScout) and for me thats what it is about.
NCAA92 - Too many people are focused on getting the next stripe, next belt, etc. I for one enjoy the training (when I can ) It is my outlet. I honestly don't even know how many stripes I have (don't really care) I enjoy the sport, I enjoy the other guys at the gym (except for CJJScout) and for me thats what it is about.
While I personally agree with your sentiment (about just enjoying training), I also believe that BJJ is not an easy hobby / activity to do.
If people feel they need to be acknowledged and motivated by stripes and belts, then I say go for it- As long as they continue to train on the mats, and not sit on the sidelines and whine about it.
