9/14: THAT PIECE OF TAPE
This week we are running our quarterly belt tests for all our BJJ students. Belt test day is always the most eagerly awaited day of the quarter. It always makes me chuckle when, a month after a belt test, kids will come up to me already asking when the next one is. There is no industry standard format when it comes to belt tests. While Gracie Barra has a method they recommend for schools, we have gone our own way because I believe the process we use develops better retention of techniques, and maybe even more importantly, it develops a better sense of reward and accomplishment.
The belt promotion formats I have seen in my time in the industry have included promotion based on number of classes attended, promotion based on the head instructor simply deciding it was time, promotion based on winning a competition, promotions requiring a test fee, promotions granted at seminars with no test required, and promotions based on an actual test where specific knowledge must be shown to the instructors like we conduct.
For us GenX’ers, we saw the start of the “trophies for everyone” generation. I remember my first ever trophy. I actually still have it. Way back in 1979 my little league soccer team won our league championship. It was a great feeling, and those years that we didn’t win, it personally drove me harder to want that success even more. For my generation, and I’m guessing most everyone reading this post, this explanation isn’t even really needed.
I have always been, and probably always will be, a believer in reward based on performance. Honestly, I don’t even know how it ever got to be NOT a thing. To those that have never stepped on the mat, I tire of hearing about how all you get from your promotion is a piece of tape around your belt. Maybe the “trophies for everyone” generation would want a banquet, a plaque, speeches, and maybe a parade. But what the uninitiated simply cannot understand is what that piece of tape represents…..and THAT is what is important.
That piece of tape represents doing something that about 0.1% of the population will ever do. That piece of tape requires you to get into the gym when you are tired, sore, or possibly injured. It requires you to have your ego put in check every single day. It requires you to do something on a consistent basis for years that is ALWAYS hard, ALWAYS challenging, and ALWAYS humbling. In Gracie Barra Northville, it requires you to learn, own, and then demonstrate physical techniques that will take you years or decades to not even master, but to just get decently good at. That piece of tape represents the shared journey of everyone that’s ever trained, trying to better themselves in so many ways beyond simply martial arts.
On February 26, 2022, I received what might be the last belt of my BJJ journey, my black belt. Over the past year and a half I have had to work hard to generate a relationship with Carlos Lemos Jr to become my new black belt instructor so I can get that little piece of tape as well. I can tell you that after the 20 promotions that it takes to earn that belt, I am going to be just as excited to receive that first piece of tape on my black belt because of the effort that it took to get there. Enjoy the struggle. Enjoy the ride. Enjoy the promotions. Enjoy knowing you are achieving something great that most people will never experience. And finally, enjoy looking down at that next piece of tape on your belt.
