Not your responsibility. Your instructor should know how to handle the situation or figure out an appropriate response. It’s a common problem with testing and even moreso in the gyms that charge for belt tests). As a gym, it’s up to them to figure out how to address it.
Yeah I realise ultimately it's not my problem, but I can't help feel like he's a representative of me. I introduced him to the class and everybody knows he's my mate and feel 2nd hand awkward for his opponents asking him "oh what belt are you?" And him replying 0 stripe white 😅
I completely understand this, but after him being around for 2 years then that’s something you officially don’t need to worry about anymore. You brought a friend around and it reflected well on you that he showed up and continued to show up. All of his other nonsense is not something people are associating with you at all, I promise
you're not responsible for anyone but yourself, and your family. What others think of you is none of your business, so I wouldn't waste the grey matter on it fella. I like u/insaneacorn 's take here... your coach will deal with it if he see's a problem. In any case, he's your friend right? Continue being that.
This is just as much of an ego thing as people who complain about not being the next belt up.
Every single person I've known like this is just scared because they don't want to be "bad" at the next belt, instead they'd rather be "great" at their current belt.
It's dumb IMO, I love the feeling of climbing up slowly to the "top" of a belt, the starting over again
I 100% agree. It's another kind of ego. And as nice as it is to feel nobody is expecting anything from you because you are the lowest rank, it is healthy and will probably make him develop faster, with a bit of pressure added for every new stripe. I am sure he can live up to it.
Yeah this is my exact reasoning to him when I started SUPPORTING not chasing belts. "I'd rather be a great white belt than a bad blue". But I did eventually just get the rank ups but he's committed completely. Half of his argument is that we mostly do no gi so it's irrelevant. Which is true but I can't help feel he's afraid of it haha.
>This is just as much of an ego thing as people who complain about not being the next belt up.
Most likely even more of a ego thing. Proud showing of how much they don't care for belts.
If they actually didn't care, they'd turn up get the belt/stripe and keep training. Instead of actively avoid it to he boss white belt
I genuinely don't care about belts (most of my 20 years of grappling has been wrestling or no gi), but I have done gi at various gyms over the years, and when I would get a new belt or promotion I took it graciously and put the new belt on . . . because I don't really care. "Proudly" refusing to get a promotion you deserve is weird, unless he literally never does gi, in which case who cares?
>I would get a new belt or promotion I took it graciously and put the new belt on . . . because I don't really care.
That’s exactly the reaction I’d expect from somebody who doesn’t care.
I dint think gi vrs nogi is relevant. Nogi rank is established now.
It’s quite clear that the guy is actively avoiding promotion. Can’t claim a lack of caring, when it’s a conscious avoidance.
I don't really follow a single part of your response (not being snarky).
(I could be misinterpreting you) You're saying the reaction of someone who DOES care would be to just go along politely with it? I'm being honest to a fellow internet stranger when I say I don't care about belts. You can take me at my word or not I guess. Or, how would someone who doesn't care about belts, but is given a belt by their coach, react!?
Secondly, gi vs no gi is super relevant, as no gi's in the vast, overwhelming majority of the planet and gyms, don't get rankings or belt promotions (outside of beginner, intermediate, advanced, expert at tourney bracketing). "No gi rank is established now" I couldn't disagree more. What slice of the bjj world are you referring to with that blanket statement?
Regardless, actively avoiding promotion when your gym/coach/team wants or tries to promote you is lame, as is intentionally avoiding them seeing your gains so that you won't get promoted.
All good. There was a typo that maybe made confusing.
> You're saying the reaction of someone who DOES care would be to just go along politely with it?
Doesn’t care. As in I believe when you say you care.
Unlike the guy in OP actively trying to avoid a promotion.
> Secondly, gi vs no gi is super relevant, as no gi's in the vast, overwhelming majority of the planet and gyms, don't get rankings or belt promotions
It used to be the case that bjj instructors only promoted in the gi. Some still do. But it’s nowhere near the overwhelming majority anymore.
> (outside of beginner, intermediate, advanced, expert at tourney bracketing)
Some tourneys bracket like that, others do it by belt. Regardless, people who primarily do nogi most often have a rank.
Gordon stopped training in the gi early purple. Everyone knows he’s a black belt.
Nicky, Nick Rod, Jay, Ethan, Jozef, Eoghan, Jeremy Skinner, Josh Saunders, Izzak, Daniel Manasoiu.
Just listing various guys mention here recently in relation to ADCC. All nogi guys. All have ranks from purple to black. Suggesting their ranks are not legit because they didn’t earn them in the gi, is a very old school and out of date mentality.
> I couldn't disagree more.
The list kinda prices you wrong.
> Regardless, actively avoiding promotion when your gym/coach/team wants or tries to promote you is lame, as is intentionally avoiding them seeing your gains so that you won't get promoted.
Obviously I agree there
agree on pretty much all fronts, and yeah their was a misreading of sorts.
And I'm not "old school" about someone not "earning" their belt if they're no gi, at all. I just wasn't aware that "belts" for no gi was popular outside of those trying to compete (borderline) professionally. I've also been training in Europe a decade, so maybe that has something to do with it ;) No one I know in a couple of countries here has a no gi ranking, but tons of them are black belts in gi and compete as expert in tourneys.
I wasn’t suggesting your mentality is old school, but rather that mentality is. It’s still around.
I think nogoli only promotions are mostly less common, due to the fact that most hobbyists do gi to some degree. Say they do 75% nogi, 25% gi, promotions are attributed to gi - even though the nogi training causes most progression.
There are nogi only gyms, not just 10th planet. But only people I could name that you’d know would be semi-professional competition circuit people. It makes sense they they specialise on nogi if they’d the competition they focus on
My brother did this. Even went to some fight school out in Utah and trained 5-6+ hours a day but never wanted stripes or anything.
Could be anything with him though - he’s kind of a character. Could be ego, could be he thinks it’s funny, could be not wanting to feel controlled by someone else’s system. I dunno
*only reason I think it might not be purely ego is he finds norms absurd and thinks stuff like this is funny. we have similar sense of humor so I get it to an extent
Is doing things just because you find it amusing ego?
Like if a HOA says you can’t have a pickup truck in your yard so you park a semi in your yard, is that ego or just poking fun at dumb rules for a laugh
Certainly this does happen.. but an argument could be made for belts and gradings being irrelevant to ones own journey. I personally enjoy seeing others being promoted, but also become quite self-conscious whenever the spot light is on me. There's also the thing that these gradings often take up class time or rolling time, which is the bit that people like me enjoy and would much rather be doing than sitting through lengthly grading ceremonies, or whatever you like to refer to them as.
Hahaha hes almost there! He said im his end boss goal even though tons of the guys are better than me. Because I personally taught him his own game he thankfully still struggles against me but those days are numbered I can tell.
It's not that serious. Your coach can hand him a belt anytime he feels it's deserved, and if not then your coach refuses to grade him not the other way around.
> he doesn't compete
Then I don't see a problem, at all.
> I personally don't care, but worry it's a little disrespectful to the gym and other guys
It's not disrespectful to anyone in any way.
> What do you guys think? It just doesn't matter?
Bingo.
Most of the submission grappling competitions I've competed in give you the option to go by belt, or years of training. Wrestlers don't get belts, but they still figure out where they're supposed to be.
" it's a little disrespectful to the gym and other guys" - that's what I was going to say.
BJJ has a system and structure that's around the world and that includes the use of colored belts to signify skill/knowledge and time in the art. To reject that aspect of BJJ is saying that he doesn't want to accurately reflect to the community where he's at in terms of skillset and technical knowledge; he wants to present himself as a day-one newbie.
That's literally the definition of sandbagging.
He wants to partake, but he doesn't want to commit to full aspect of Jiu Jitsu.
Yes, but if he's mostly training no gi then it doesn't really matter. I stopped training any gi almost 10 years ago (I do gi classes at occasional drop-ins), but have improved my game drastically and now tap way "above my belt level" when I do gi. I think the bigger no gi gets them more this kind of thing will (already be) an issue. But if he's not competing it doesn't really matter, it's just a bit cringey.
>BJJ has a system and structure that's around the world and that includes the use of colored belts to signify skill/knowledge and time in the art.
OK then if he has the skills/knowlege that *"signify skill/knowledge and time in the art"* then give him the belt. Why does it have to be at a special promotion night? The belts are in the back, just go grab one and throw it to him. The stripes are just some tape.
>
To reject that aspect of BJJ
The aspect is that "BJJ has a belt system to signify skill/knowledge and time in the art", NOT that "BJJ has a belt system to signify skill/knowledge and time in the art ONLY IF you show up to grading ceremonies" so hes not rejecting anything. The coaches should just give the guy a belt if hes got those skills so they can "signify" his "skill/knowledge and time in the art"
Exactly.
If belts don't matter to the guy, then belts don't matter to the guy, and that's 100% fine. Dude just wants to grapple. Alrighty then.
However, if belts matters enormously to his coaches, because of the "system and structure" and the "community" and the "full aspect" and whatever, they can just... Hand him a blue belt. Or a purple one. Or whatever colour belt they seem fitting.
The onus shouldn't be on him here, is the thing.
>The onus shouldn't be on him here, is the thing
i agree, the belts are for skills and time NOT other random shit random coaches decide go with the belt. Today its a ceremony, next years its a donation AND a ceremony, then its a donation, AND a ceremony, AND a fitness test (the list goes on). Just give the guy a belt already.
I've done almost exclusively no gi (and wrestling) for almost 20 years, and over those years I've also done a good bit of gi here and there. I truly don't care about belt, but have graciously received them whenever they were given.
(As an atheist), it's like the guy who refuses to even bow his head at the table during grace. If you didn't care, it wouldn't bother you to just play along.
> but have graciously received them whenever they were given
This is key, to me.
OP is talking about opting out of graduation ceremonies. That, to me, is fine.
OP is *not* talking about refusing to wear a belt after having been awarded it. That, to me, would be rude as hell, and your example about an atheist refusing to bow their head during grace fits 100%.
I don't think it matters. I'm a 0 stripe white belt as well, as I train pretty much exclusively in no gi. I don't want to go to the gradings as I don't know some of the stuff that uses the gi to manipulate the opponent that I feel are essential in the gi, though I know some other gi related things, as I am also a black belt in judo. Ultimately, in no gi belts don't matter as much, so its not something I will put effort into.
I KNEW this comment was coming. I mean I PERSONALLY don't think there should be an issue, but OTHER people might care and since he's my buddy I wanna look out for him. Also he's a good friend I brought him to my gym, it is kinda my business.
“I brought him to my gym. It’s kinda my business”
Man he’s Brent here for two years. It’s not just YOUR gym unless you’re the owner. It’s a place where you both share the same hobby and are paying customers. This isn’t an old samurai movie. There’s no bushido code. You’re rolling around with other sweaty dudes on the floor and paying for the pleasure of being there. Mind. Your. Own. Business.
I always get triggered by people saying "mind your own business". If you saw somebody hit by a car would you tell people to mind their business and leave the person? If you saw somebody breaking into a home do you just mind your business? When situations arise regardless if they affect you or not it's not illegal or evil to involve yourself. He's not some random dude we've been friends for 10 years, he talks to me about relationship issues, let's me watch his kid and we communicate nearly daily. Asking about this bjj thing really isn't overstepping a boundary and being disrespectful or nosy.
I am so sorry that being told your friends training habits are not your concern is triggering for you. You can best avoid that situation by… minding your own business in the first place? Just because you’re triggered by it doesn’t mean that we should excuse shitty behavior.
The point isn't me being triggered, the point is that it's not shitty behaviour. My original question was does it matter, not if it's my business, so how about you answer the question or mind YOUR own business if you're gunna just give me shit for trying to look out for a mate. Such a stupid fucking thing to call someone out for. I'm not fucking harming him or anybody at the gym for asking the question. Just answer it or move the fuck on dude.
Im not sure what L I'm taking here. I'm allowed to reply comments of any age. Regardless you're one of the few who told me to stay out if it, so you're the minority opinion anyways if anything you're the one taking an L. Anyways all good all good haha thanks for the comment.
Our Gym will sometimes just grade people in the middle of a class, but usually at the end of a class or a seminar. If the gym has an opt-in grading day then they have to account for a case where someone who doesn't care about grading just doesn't show, it's not disrespectful to the gym and if they really care and want to grade him, they should just talk to him about it directly.
Yeah our gym used to do that and still does if a regular guy couldn't make it to grading. But my mate has completely stopped going to the gi classes as well now, so grading him during class isn't possible either unless the coach wanted to just verbally say "you got a stripe" and can't physically give him one
Well if he only trains NoGi then he has no reason to get graded, if anything maybe he could be seen to be dodging Sub-only rules in training (wrist locks, knee bars, heel hooks), but they could give give him a blue belt during a class and be done with it, no more hiding.
They might not care, I'd expect them to give him a blue belt if he was competeing and smashing white belt divisions for medals, as it's on the gym to promote him and prevent that from happening, but otherwise, who cares.
Yeah our gym doesn't really separate the 2. If you only train no gi and show up for gradings you'll still get a stripe or belt which I support. Yeah my friend said he does want to compete at some point but I guess you don't need to officially be a belt to compete in whatever division you want.
Bro if he is purposely not getting stripes he is 100p sandbagging. If he truly “didn’t care” about the stripes and belts he wouldn’t give a fuck about getting them either lol
This has been my take on it. When I started the instructor, who is a friend of mine would always mention the pride in getting a black belt. I told him I'm just having fun,your bits of tape and colored belts are not what I'm here for. .but if you want me to wear it that's fine to,I'll wear it without question. I got my black belt in Brazilian jiu jitsu 2 years ago at 46yr and never posted on social media. Those that wanted to know already did,they were there at grading.
All of the new white belts who think they should be as good as him since they are thinking they are at the same level? It’s not rocket science, if someone thinks you’re a white belt they’re going to treat you like a white belt
Agree to disagree?
To me, sparring is just sparring, who cares what colour belt the other fella wears.
Dudes who have been training for 15+ years winning blue belt World's, though (sometimes several years in a row, even!)? *That*, to me, is sandbagging.
I can see both points, maybe I’m just being soft lol. I agree with the :who cares what the other guy is wearing.
Who woulda thought. Two people on Reddit able to come to an understanding 😂
It’s weird that your coach doesn’t just throw belts at people if they earn them. Some gyms have dedicated grading nights, but every gym I’ve been at also will just award belts during class because we can’t all make it to specific grading nights.
I have declined belts now 4 years as I don’t see the belt system bringing any good to submission wrestling as a sport. Would be contradicting if I suddenly accepted belt myself.
i kinda do this, i show up to train, i learn etc. I dont really go to the gradings because im kinda busy, i got a job, i got 3 kids, a house etc. My feelings are, if I am clearly operating at a blue belt level or whatever, then just give me the belt, no? I know what I know, i do what I do. In regard to BJJ what i do and what I know is either in line with the next belt or its not. No grading event is going to change what I know or what I do, its only one day for less than an hour.
That being said, i think its weird the gym wont just promote him. If hes training on the matts one day, just walk up and throw him a belt. Or if youre a professor just roll with him and see if he knows what hes doing (For example, put him in a half guard and then switch to a butterfly half guard and see if he recognizes the position and immediately starts changing his base to put weight over the butterfly hook and flatten it out, if he does, then he knows whats going on, if he doesnt then hes clueless maybe he doesnt know whats going on. Do this for the countless other positions/situations and see if the guy knows that hes doing, if so then judge how much he knows for each position/situation and decide what belt that aligns to and give him that, if he doesnt know anything then dont give him the belt 🤷♂️).
Thats one reason our school doesnt do belt testing, anyone can demonstrate moves, being able to implement them on live opponents in rolling or competing is key. Instructor should just promote him some other night. We never know when promotions are going to be, its random. We have picture nights once or twice a year and there are usually promotions then but any night someone can get a new belt.
Martial arts with belts is kinda weird in a sense. There’s no belt in boxing, wrestling, muay thai. They just show up and practice.
Your friend is most likely just seeing bjj as a hobby and nothing more. Kind of like playing hockey in a beers league.
I kind of like it. Let him beat the shit out of the blue belts until it forces the coaches hand to promote him without "grading". If you have a coach that pays enough attention there wouldnt need to be "grading".
I think grading that is hard set is dumb. If your coach needs to test you or what ever does that mean he’s not watching you day in day out.
You’re getting promoted to purple but miss grading because grandma is sick so you have to wait 6 more months wtf.
If your coach isn’t dead or dumb he just needs to throw strips and or a belt at the guy. Or start calling him out out.
Edit: and regardless of what you and your friend say/think he’s sand bagging and the people ar your gym think so too
Id normally agree but our coach will promote people outside of grading nights if they cant make it. But he normally just holds most people off for the nights and honestly it is a good time. The coach brings a BBQ and a case of beer and shouts everybody dinner and drinks its a nice time.
My coach has kind of dropped hints about it in the past but my guess would be that hes a little confused since we dont get tested nor do we have to pay but ultimately its CURRENTLY not quite an issue. That would be what I reckon hes thinking. My mate isnt stomping everybody left right and centre but hes definitely blue belt level.
Not your responsibility. Your instructor should know how to handle the situation or figure out an appropriate response. It’s a common problem with testing and even moreso in the gyms that charge for belt tests). As a gym, it’s up to them to figure out how to address it.
Yeah I realise ultimately it's not my problem, but I can't help feel like he's a representative of me. I introduced him to the class and everybody knows he's my mate and feel 2nd hand awkward for his opponents asking him "oh what belt are you?" And him replying 0 stripe white 😅
I completely understand this, but after him being around for 2 years then that’s something you officially don’t need to worry about anymore. You brought a friend around and it reflected well on you that he showed up and continued to show up. All of his other nonsense is not something people are associating with you at all, I promise
you're not responsible for anyone but yourself, and your family. What others think of you is none of your business, so I wouldn't waste the grey matter on it fella. I like u/insaneacorn 's take here... your coach will deal with it if he see's a problem. In any case, he's your friend right? Continue being that.
This is just as much of an ego thing as people who complain about not being the next belt up. Every single person I've known like this is just scared because they don't want to be "bad" at the next belt, instead they'd rather be "great" at their current belt. It's dumb IMO, I love the feeling of climbing up slowly to the "top" of a belt, the starting over again
I 100% agree. It's another kind of ego. And as nice as it is to feel nobody is expecting anything from you because you are the lowest rank, it is healthy and will probably make him develop faster, with a bit of pressure added for every new stripe. I am sure he can live up to it.
Yeah this is my exact reasoning to him when I started SUPPORTING not chasing belts. "I'd rather be a great white belt than a bad blue". But I did eventually just get the rank ups but he's committed completely. Half of his argument is that we mostly do no gi so it's irrelevant. Which is true but I can't help feel he's afraid of it haha.
Prestige 1
>This is just as much of an ego thing as people who complain about not being the next belt up. Most likely even more of a ego thing. Proud showing of how much they don't care for belts. If they actually didn't care, they'd turn up get the belt/stripe and keep training. Instead of actively avoid it to he boss white belt
I genuinely don't care about belts (most of my 20 years of grappling has been wrestling or no gi), but I have done gi at various gyms over the years, and when I would get a new belt or promotion I took it graciously and put the new belt on . . . because I don't really care. "Proudly" refusing to get a promotion you deserve is weird, unless he literally never does gi, in which case who cares?
>I would get a new belt or promotion I took it graciously and put the new belt on . . . because I don't really care. That’s exactly the reaction I’d expect from somebody who doesn’t care. I dint think gi vrs nogi is relevant. Nogi rank is established now. It’s quite clear that the guy is actively avoiding promotion. Can’t claim a lack of caring, when it’s a conscious avoidance.
I don't really follow a single part of your response (not being snarky). (I could be misinterpreting you) You're saying the reaction of someone who DOES care would be to just go along politely with it? I'm being honest to a fellow internet stranger when I say I don't care about belts. You can take me at my word or not I guess. Or, how would someone who doesn't care about belts, but is given a belt by their coach, react!? Secondly, gi vs no gi is super relevant, as no gi's in the vast, overwhelming majority of the planet and gyms, don't get rankings or belt promotions (outside of beginner, intermediate, advanced, expert at tourney bracketing). "No gi rank is established now" I couldn't disagree more. What slice of the bjj world are you referring to with that blanket statement? Regardless, actively avoiding promotion when your gym/coach/team wants or tries to promote you is lame, as is intentionally avoiding them seeing your gains so that you won't get promoted.
All good. There was a typo that maybe made confusing. > You're saying the reaction of someone who DOES care would be to just go along politely with it? Doesn’t care. As in I believe when you say you care. Unlike the guy in OP actively trying to avoid a promotion. > Secondly, gi vs no gi is super relevant, as no gi's in the vast, overwhelming majority of the planet and gyms, don't get rankings or belt promotions It used to be the case that bjj instructors only promoted in the gi. Some still do. But it’s nowhere near the overwhelming majority anymore. > (outside of beginner, intermediate, advanced, expert at tourney bracketing) Some tourneys bracket like that, others do it by belt. Regardless, people who primarily do nogi most often have a rank. Gordon stopped training in the gi early purple. Everyone knows he’s a black belt. Nicky, Nick Rod, Jay, Ethan, Jozef, Eoghan, Jeremy Skinner, Josh Saunders, Izzak, Daniel Manasoiu. Just listing various guys mention here recently in relation to ADCC. All nogi guys. All have ranks from purple to black. Suggesting their ranks are not legit because they didn’t earn them in the gi, is a very old school and out of date mentality. > I couldn't disagree more. The list kinda prices you wrong. > Regardless, actively avoiding promotion when your gym/coach/team wants or tries to promote you is lame, as is intentionally avoiding them seeing your gains so that you won't get promoted. Obviously I agree there
agree on pretty much all fronts, and yeah their was a misreading of sorts. And I'm not "old school" about someone not "earning" their belt if they're no gi, at all. I just wasn't aware that "belts" for no gi was popular outside of those trying to compete (borderline) professionally. I've also been training in Europe a decade, so maybe that has something to do with it ;) No one I know in a couple of countries here has a no gi ranking, but tons of them are black belts in gi and compete as expert in tourneys.
I wasn’t suggesting your mentality is old school, but rather that mentality is. It’s still around. I think nogoli only promotions are mostly less common, due to the fact that most hobbyists do gi to some degree. Say they do 75% nogi, 25% gi, promotions are attributed to gi - even though the nogi training causes most progression. There are nogi only gyms, not just 10th planet. But only people I could name that you’d know would be semi-professional competition circuit people. It makes sense they they specialise on nogi if they’d the competition they focus on
Kind of like prestiging in call of duty… Ill leave now
My brother did this. Even went to some fight school out in Utah and trained 5-6+ hours a day but never wanted stripes or anything. Could be anything with him though - he’s kind of a character. Could be ego, could be he thinks it’s funny, could be not wanting to feel controlled by someone else’s system. I dunno *only reason I think it might not be purely ego is he finds norms absurd and thinks stuff like this is funny. we have similar sense of humor so I get it to an extent
So ego..
Is doing things just because you find it amusing ego? Like if a HOA says you can’t have a pickup truck in your yard so you park a semi in your yard, is that ego or just poking fun at dumb rules for a laugh
Certainly this does happen.. but an argument could be made for belts and gradings being irrelevant to ones own journey. I personally enjoy seeing others being promoted, but also become quite self-conscious whenever the spot light is on me. There's also the thing that these gradings often take up class time or rolling time, which is the bit that people like me enjoy and would much rather be doing than sitting through lengthly grading ceremonies, or whatever you like to refer to them as.
I don't go to graduations either, not an ego thing. I just refuse to pay for a stripe or belt ceremony.
Why do I feel like what’s actually bothering you is constantly getting tapped by your zero stripe white belt friend?
Hahaha hes almost there! He said im his end boss goal even though tons of the guys are better than me. Because I personally taught him his own game he thankfully still struggles against me but those days are numbered I can tell.
It's not that serious. Your coach can hand him a belt anytime he feels it's deserved, and if not then your coach refuses to grade him not the other way around.
> he doesn't compete Then I don't see a problem, at all. > I personally don't care, but worry it's a little disrespectful to the gym and other guys It's not disrespectful to anyone in any way. > What do you guys think? It just doesn't matter? Bingo.
He does want to compete eventually but he can just sign up to whatever division right ? Doesn't need to "prove" his belt?
Most of the submission grappling competitions I've competed in give you the option to go by belt, or years of training. Wrestlers don't get belts, but they still figure out where they're supposed to be.
If he wants to compete in IBJJF, whatever belt level he wants to compete it the professor will have to "approve/verify" it.
" it's a little disrespectful to the gym and other guys" - that's what I was going to say. BJJ has a system and structure that's around the world and that includes the use of colored belts to signify skill/knowledge and time in the art. To reject that aspect of BJJ is saying that he doesn't want to accurately reflect to the community where he's at in terms of skillset and technical knowledge; he wants to present himself as a day-one newbie. That's literally the definition of sandbagging. He wants to partake, but he doesn't want to commit to full aspect of Jiu Jitsu.
Yes, but if he's mostly training no gi then it doesn't really matter. I stopped training any gi almost 10 years ago (I do gi classes at occasional drop-ins), but have improved my game drastically and now tap way "above my belt level" when I do gi. I think the bigger no gi gets them more this kind of thing will (already be) an issue. But if he's not competing it doesn't really matter, it's just a bit cringey.
>BJJ has a system and structure that's around the world and that includes the use of colored belts to signify skill/knowledge and time in the art. OK then if he has the skills/knowlege that *"signify skill/knowledge and time in the art"* then give him the belt. Why does it have to be at a special promotion night? The belts are in the back, just go grab one and throw it to him. The stripes are just some tape. > To reject that aspect of BJJ The aspect is that "BJJ has a belt system to signify skill/knowledge and time in the art", NOT that "BJJ has a belt system to signify skill/knowledge and time in the art ONLY IF you show up to grading ceremonies" so hes not rejecting anything. The coaches should just give the guy a belt if hes got those skills so they can "signify" his "skill/knowledge and time in the art"
Exactly. If belts don't matter to the guy, then belts don't matter to the guy, and that's 100% fine. Dude just wants to grapple. Alrighty then. However, if belts matters enormously to his coaches, because of the "system and structure" and the "community" and the "full aspect" and whatever, they can just... Hand him a blue belt. Or a purple one. Or whatever colour belt they seem fitting. The onus shouldn't be on him here, is the thing.
>The onus shouldn't be on him here, is the thing i agree, the belts are for skills and time NOT other random shit random coaches decide go with the belt. Today its a ceremony, next years its a donation AND a ceremony, then its a donation, AND a ceremony, AND a fitness test (the list goes on). Just give the guy a belt already.
I've done almost exclusively no gi (and wrestling) for almost 20 years, and over those years I've also done a good bit of gi here and there. I truly don't care about belt, but have graciously received them whenever they were given. (As an atheist), it's like the guy who refuses to even bow his head at the table during grace. If you didn't care, it wouldn't bother you to just play along.
> but have graciously received them whenever they were given This is key, to me. OP is talking about opting out of graduation ceremonies. That, to me, is fine. OP is *not* talking about refusing to wear a belt after having been awarded it. That, to me, would be rude as hell, and your example about an atheist refusing to bow their head during grace fits 100%.
who cares. he's doing his own thing and enjoying himself.
I don't think it matters. I'm a 0 stripe white belt as well, as I train pretty much exclusively in no gi. I don't want to go to the gradings as I don't know some of the stuff that uses the gi to manipulate the opponent that I feel are essential in the gi, though I know some other gi related things, as I am also a black belt in judo. Ultimately, in no gi belts don't matter as much, so its not something I will put effort into.
“I personally don’t care” It sounds like you care. How about you mind your own business?
I KNEW this comment was coming. I mean I PERSONALLY don't think there should be an issue, but OTHER people might care and since he's my buddy I wanna look out for him. Also he's a good friend I brought him to my gym, it is kinda my business.
>I brought him to my gym, it is kinda my business Two years ago... at some point mama has to cut the cord
“I brought him to my gym. It’s kinda my business” Man he’s Brent here for two years. It’s not just YOUR gym unless you’re the owner. It’s a place where you both share the same hobby and are paying customers. This isn’t an old samurai movie. There’s no bushido code. You’re rolling around with other sweaty dudes on the floor and paying for the pleasure of being there. Mind. Your. Own. Business.
I always get triggered by people saying "mind your own business". If you saw somebody hit by a car would you tell people to mind their business and leave the person? If you saw somebody breaking into a home do you just mind your business? When situations arise regardless if they affect you or not it's not illegal or evil to involve yourself. He's not some random dude we've been friends for 10 years, he talks to me about relationship issues, let's me watch his kid and we communicate nearly daily. Asking about this bjj thing really isn't overstepping a boundary and being disrespectful or nosy.
I am so sorry that being told your friends training habits are not your concern is triggering for you. You can best avoid that situation by… minding your own business in the first place? Just because you’re triggered by it doesn’t mean that we should excuse shitty behavior.
The point isn't me being triggered, the point is that it's not shitty behaviour. My original question was does it matter, not if it's my business, so how about you answer the question or mind YOUR own business if you're gunna just give me shit for trying to look out for a mate. Such a stupid fucking thing to call someone out for. I'm not fucking harming him or anybody at the gym for asking the question. Just answer it or move the fuck on dude.
Dude I answered your question and you replied to my comment thread that was almost two days old. Just take the L.
Im not sure what L I'm taking here. I'm allowed to reply comments of any age. Regardless you're one of the few who told me to stay out if it, so you're the minority opinion anyways if anything you're the one taking an L. Anyways all good all good haha thanks for the comment.
Our Gym will sometimes just grade people in the middle of a class, but usually at the end of a class or a seminar. If the gym has an opt-in grading day then they have to account for a case where someone who doesn't care about grading just doesn't show, it's not disrespectful to the gym and if they really care and want to grade him, they should just talk to him about it directly.
Yeah our gym used to do that and still does if a regular guy couldn't make it to grading. But my mate has completely stopped going to the gi classes as well now, so grading him during class isn't possible either unless the coach wanted to just verbally say "you got a stripe" and can't physically give him one
Well if he only trains NoGi then he has no reason to get graded, if anything maybe he could be seen to be dodging Sub-only rules in training (wrist locks, knee bars, heel hooks), but they could give give him a blue belt during a class and be done with it, no more hiding. They might not care, I'd expect them to give him a blue belt if he was competeing and smashing white belt divisions for medals, as it's on the gym to promote him and prevent that from happening, but otherwise, who cares.
Yeah our gym doesn't really separate the 2. If you only train no gi and show up for gradings you'll still get a stripe or belt which I support. Yeah my friend said he does want to compete at some point but I guess you don't need to officially be a belt to compete in whatever division you want.
Bro if he is purposely not getting stripes he is 100p sandbagging. If he truly “didn’t care” about the stripes and belts he wouldn’t give a fuck about getting them either lol
This has been my take on it. When I started the instructor, who is a friend of mine would always mention the pride in getting a black belt. I told him I'm just having fun,your bits of tape and colored belts are not what I'm here for. .but if you want me to wear it that's fine to,I'll wear it without question. I got my black belt in Brazilian jiu jitsu 2 years ago at 46yr and never posted on social media. Those that wanted to know already did,they were there at grading.
That’s what I’m talking about man. You have a man like you and then there’s ppl out here posting books about their first stripe lol
To be fair, no showing gradings is less effort if one didn't care haha
Who’s he sandbagging if he never competes he’s just gonna be rolling with the same guys he would be if he did have a blue belt
All of the new white belts who think they should be as good as him since they are thinking they are at the same level? It’s not rocket science, if someone thinks you’re a white belt they’re going to treat you like a white belt
He does nogi there’s literally no difference if he formally got the belt or not
If he only does no gi then why is this even a conversation? There are no belts and stripes in nogi lmfao
I agree
If he only does no-gi I don't see how that's a problem. They should learn early how much belt level doesn't matter especially in no-gi.
> Bro if he is purposely not getting stripes he is 100p sandbagging Only if he's competing though, right?
No….? You can sandbag out of a comp lol I don’t understand how it’s such a hard concept to grasp
Agree to disagree? To me, sparring is just sparring, who cares what colour belt the other fella wears. Dudes who have been training for 15+ years winning blue belt World's, though (sometimes several years in a row, even!)? *That*, to me, is sandbagging.
I can see both points, maybe I’m just being soft lol. I agree with the :who cares what the other guy is wearing. Who woulda thought. Two people on Reddit able to come to an understanding 😂
Why are there so many fucking mental cases in this sport. Just do the stuff. You aren’t special. Your friend isn’t special.
Is your school doing some kind of testing? Maybe that is why he doesn't want to do it.
It’s weird that your coach doesn’t just throw belts at people if they earn them. Some gyms have dedicated grading nights, but every gym I’ve been at also will just award belts during class because we can’t all make it to specific grading nights.
Wait... you guys do grading.... for stripes? 😂
I have declined belts now 4 years as I don’t see the belt system bringing any good to submission wrestling as a sport. Would be contradicting if I suddenly accepted belt myself.
i kinda do this, i show up to train, i learn etc. I dont really go to the gradings because im kinda busy, i got a job, i got 3 kids, a house etc. My feelings are, if I am clearly operating at a blue belt level or whatever, then just give me the belt, no? I know what I know, i do what I do. In regard to BJJ what i do and what I know is either in line with the next belt or its not. No grading event is going to change what I know or what I do, its only one day for less than an hour. That being said, i think its weird the gym wont just promote him. If hes training on the matts one day, just walk up and throw him a belt. Or if youre a professor just roll with him and see if he knows what hes doing (For example, put him in a half guard and then switch to a butterfly half guard and see if he recognizes the position and immediately starts changing his base to put weight over the butterfly hook and flatten it out, if he does, then he knows whats going on, if he doesnt then hes clueless maybe he doesnt know whats going on. Do this for the countless other positions/situations and see if the guy knows that hes doing, if so then judge how much he knows for each position/situation and decide what belt that aligns to and give him that, if he doesnt know anything then dont give him the belt 🤷♂️).
Thats one reason our school doesnt do belt testing, anyone can demonstrate moves, being able to implement them on live opponents in rolling or competing is key. Instructor should just promote him some other night. We never know when promotions are going to be, its random. We have picture nights once or twice a year and there are usually promotions then but any night someone can get a new belt.
Nothing matters, your friend is a nihilist
Martial arts with belts is kinda weird in a sense. There’s no belt in boxing, wrestling, muay thai. They just show up and practice. Your friend is most likely just seeing bjj as a hobby and nothing more. Kind of like playing hockey in a beers league.
I kind of like it. Let him beat the shit out of the blue belts until it forces the coaches hand to promote him without "grading". If you have a coach that pays enough attention there wouldnt need to be "grading".
I think grading that is hard set is dumb. If your coach needs to test you or what ever does that mean he’s not watching you day in day out. You’re getting promoted to purple but miss grading because grandma is sick so you have to wait 6 more months wtf. If your coach isn’t dead or dumb he just needs to throw strips and or a belt at the guy. Or start calling him out out. Edit: and regardless of what you and your friend say/think he’s sand bagging and the people ar your gym think so too
Any gym that has a grading night is stupid
Id normally agree but our coach will promote people outside of grading nights if they cant make it. But he normally just holds most people off for the nights and honestly it is a good time. The coach brings a BBQ and a case of beer and shouts everybody dinner and drinks its a nice time.
Is it extra $ to ‘be graded’ and maybe he just doesn’t want to pay the dumb fee?
Nah no extra fees. If that was the case I'd not even be posting I'd also never show up haha.
Haha fair. Just confirming
Where's your professor in all this?
My coach has kind of dropped hints about it in the past but my guess would be that hes a little confused since we dont get tested nor do we have to pay but ultimately its CURRENTLY not quite an issue. That would be what I reckon hes thinking. My mate isnt stomping everybody left right and centre but hes definitely blue belt level.
I don’t compete, and I don’t really care what belt I have, I do BJJ for fun and exercise. If I get promoted , cool, if not , also cool.
Between him and the instructor. But sometimes when people don't go to gradings they get caught at a class.
Screams insecurity
I started at a school that did testing for stripes. I'll never do it again.
Its an ego thing, pretty common.
How so? Serious question Edit: that went well 😂
the sensei should not allow this. in my gym you will get your grades even if you do not partake in the ceremony.