I know I should let this whole thing ride slowly off into the sunset...
I used to really enjoy all this drama. Even created a lot of it on another forum. I think I referred to it as "open debate and discourse" or something to that effect.
Then a really good friend asked me if I thought Badminton players went on fourms and argued about their best strategies. That sort of woke me up and made me realize how silly it all is.
So I started posting only about technique. But that wasn't good enough for some people because I wasn't a black belt or I was posting about someone's "game" instead of BJJ as a whole system or whatever. The whole thing got old to me. I spend less time on forums these days and I have to tell you I have been much more positive about BJJ because of that.
I really only post here for one reason now. I have promoted Marcelo seminars here and I don't think it is right to market something and not try and add some value. Guess it is time to just buy ads here.
But here we are.
Wutang said:
"Why can't a purple belt present a seminar (free or otherwise)?"
Same reason a blue belt shouldn't be making instructionals(i.e. Egan Inoue's set he made a blue belt)-- it's irresponsible. In a few months Mr. Purple belts opinion will change about things, the longer he trains the more it changes. There are a lot of things he's not not seeing right now just due to experience. "
When I first began training in BJJ my instructor was a purple belt. He did not train with any of the local black belts, though he had started out there. He trained with a Brown Belt who lived on the other side of the country. The brown belt came to town once a year for seminars as well as travel around the world doing seminars.
My instructor, the purple belt, gave 3 hour seminars every few months on specific subjects. Had pretty good participation. Both of those guys are black belts now and have been pretty successful with their own gyms, with instructionals, and with their association.
My instructor found something he liked when he began training with the brown belt. The guys who drove across the state found something they liked when they started training with him instead of one of the black belts over here.
For various reasons I have moved on but I will never say that they have not helped BJJ as a whole for many people in their gyms, in the U.S. and in other parts of the world. If they worried about statements like the above that might not be the case.
Here is an em from a purple belt that went to Matt's seminar. A guy who has trained 5 years:
"I had yet to attend a seminar that provided handouts and had a formal agenda and here we attended a free one that had both. Matt did an outstanding job teaching us moves that will certainly raise our game to the next level. Attending the seminar has proven to me that you do not need to have a black belt to teach, just a passion and a great understand of that which you teach. Thanks to Mike, Leo and John for having Matt come down and special thanks to Matt and Kelly for being there early and giving an awesome seminar."
That pretty much sums up how I feel. In the end Wutang is entitled to his opinion, Aesopian is entitled to promote himself if he wants, I am entitled to have anyone I want in the gym to teach or do seminars or just roll with me...or maybe even have a lively game of badminton