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Remember all the belt promotions during the pandemic? Well here is an interesting article rewritten we posted during that time. With Jiu Jitsu being outlawed throughout most of the world due to an unforeseen illness, many eager practitioners across the globe were taken out of their gyms and confined to their homes due to Covid 19 concerns. Despite not getting to practice Jiu Jitsu, we noticed an… interesting trend on social media. Maybe I was not the only one to notice this?
Across the globe in academies big and small, we noticed an abundance of bjj practitioners of varying skill levels receiving shiny new belts. Seems like something is a little… strange???
If everyone is truly quarantined, how did they really earn those belts during a time where there is little or no training at all? After speaking with a few professors and experienced Jiu Jitsu practitioners we have a few ideas... The answer doesn’t take a genius to figure out. Professors and their families have to eat, and a life without Jiu Jitsu isn’t one worth living. OSS.
Especially in the US, a lot of gym owners had to black out their windows and deal Jiu Jitsu like prohibition-era bars. Like those same alcoholics in the 1920’s, we displaced BJJ addicts flocked to our academies through the back entrances with masks in hand and alibis on stand by. Even with some students coming through the back door, the overall membership numbers of most schools were a glimpse of what they once were before the outlawing of Jiu Jitsu or anything that didnt keep a 6 foot distance between us all.
Do we have Professors everywhere enticing students to stay by roping them in with shiny new belts? A serious question and we are not pointing the finger at any one gym in particular.
Now on the other hand while people were at home eating pizza it is entirely possible that the people who were promoted probably never stopped training and they truly deserve the upgrade around their waist.
A quick look at any Jiu Jitsu school’s social media (especially Facebook during that time) will display an abundance of pictures displaying large groups participating in promotion ceremonies, involving almost every student enrolled at the academy receiving a brand new belt.
I don’t mean to be a downer, but before the great Jiu Jitsu prohibition, only a handful of people received a new belt during a promotion ceremony. Did all these speakeasy Jiujiteiros grind hard enough to break into the next belt? Maybe, but I personally have to exert a healthy level of skepticism. The amount of 6 month White Belts turning into Blue Belts during this time just doesn’t really register with me. Especially since I am chain tapping them with only 3 hours of sleep and a shitty diet.
With the new year just around the corner, it might not be such a bad thing to promote students ahead of schedule. All these Schmovid-19 (you know the virus) belts could use this as an opportunity to rise to the occasion. Even if they don’t deserve the belts given to them in 2020, 2021 could have been the year these Jiujiteiros grew into their belts.
The fact is that credit is given either way to those that still trained during the pandemic and congrats to those who were promoted.
Here is another question. If you knew you weren't ready for the next belt, would you deny the promotion and keep the belt around your waist. Perhaps even change schools? I DOUBT IT!!
Truly Yours,
Anonymous White Belt
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