Am I an a$$ ?

I don't mind paying for promotions. It usually comes with a belt, a certificate and seminar. Its not really putting much money in my instructor's pocket. There are like what 4 promotions in your entire life (if you make it that far).

Stripes on the other hand, sound ridiculous. There is no fanfare for stripes at all at my school. Just get striped up after class whenever the instructor feels like it.
 
Just stay a white belt forever. It would be funny as hell if you were a brown belt level grappler who wears a no stripe white belt. The more I grapple, the more I feel like the belts aren't too meaningful. There is such a wide variety of skill levels at a particular ranking even at the same school that it's crazy. I have fun grappling and enjoy getting better, but I don't give a shit about my ranking. Not getting promoted has the benefit of avoiding getting whipped with the belts too. Shit is brutal at my club.
 
Balto said:
If you're not comfortable paying for your promotions, then you'll just have to leave that school. There are usually other schools around that don't work that way.

The suggestion that you can just stay and become an awesome white belt doesn't work in reality. Your instructor will know what you are doing and eventually ask you to leave if it becomes clear that you do not respect him.

You have absolutely no chance of shaming an instructor like this into you promoting you by refusing to pay and then just getting really good. That is fantasy. You either have to accept that you will pay or accept that you will leave. But just sticking around indefinitely is not a good option.
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I would stick around until he asks me to leave. What's the worst that can happen? He asks me to leave. Big deal.

Also what if he's not trying to shame the instructor into promoting him for free, which most schools do anyway? Maybe he just doesn't care what his belt ranking is.
 
I would never ever pay for a promotion of any kind.
 
I feel if you want to charge someone for promotions then you better tell them ahead of time. Did they inform you of this when you signed up? How much of a charge are we talking?
 
My school typically has belt promotions in conjunctions with a seminar on a Saturday every 3-4 months. If you attend the seminar, you'll be there for any promotions that occur afterwards. With that said, if you attend, that doesn't mean you get promoted, and if you don't attend, that doesn't mean you don't get promoted.

I was given my 2nd and 3rd stripes on my white belt and was given my blue belt after a seminar. However, all my blue belt stripes were given after a normal class. I was even promoted to Purple after a weeknight class. I had missed the previous seminar and while I know my coach would have preferred to promote me there (not b/c of the money but so it was done in front of most of the students), he didn't begrudge me for having a life / family outside of BJJ and still promoted me b/c he thought I deserved it (which I still don't think I do, haha).
 
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It's going to be really embarrassing for the school in about 8 years when there's this white belt absolutely raping purples and blues.
 
FuneralPyre said:
I would stick around until he asks me to leave. What's the worst that can happen? He asks me to leave. Big deal.

Also what if he's not trying to shame the instructor into promoting him for free, which most schools do anyway? Maybe he just doesn't care what his belt ranking is.
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The worst that can happen is all of the bad blood that has been slowly building between you and the instructor finally erupts in one huge incident triggered by something relatively minor. There's usually like a fight in the gym, swearing and yelling, maybe the police get called, etc.

After that's over and you've left the gym for good, then you continue to see your instructor periodically at tournaments. Of course it is always really awkward and everyone whispers rumors about what REALLY happened between you guys. It's usually a lot worse than what really happened at this point. If it's really bad, you might have another fighting, swearing/yelling, police calling incident at the tournament too.

You guys just haven't been around long enough to see this stuff happen. If there is distrust and bad blood between you and your instructor, you can't just ignore it and train anyway until it gets so bad you get kicked out. Usually by that point it is so bad you will regret it forever.
 
Bruce Calavera said:
It's going to be really embarrassing for the school in about 8 years when there's this white belt absolutely raping purples and blues.
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To be honest, I have never met a single BJJ instructor who would be embarrassed that his white belt is able to beat higher ranks. Instructors have their own promotion criteria, whatever they may be, and if you don't live up to that for whatever reason, they are not going to second guess themselves.

If anything, instructors are usually kind of happy to see guys they are holding back do well against upper belts. They know they are holding it back and have their reasons. There is no embarrassment at all.
 
i train with a couple guys that are 5-8 year white belts. I believe it might have something to do with this.
 
what a bunch of cheap asses.... you don't like belt tests then GTFO of your school plain and simple.

90% of you act there are 40 belts in BJJ...

4 belt promotions over 13 years (typical for most bjjers to hit black right?) at 60 bucks a belt test equals an extra ONE DOLLAR AND SOME CHANGE more a month.

I spend more money on gum..
 
dazed863 said:
what a bunch of cheap asses.... you don't like belt tests then GTFO of your school plain and simple.

90% of you act there are 40 belts in BJJ...

4 belt promotions over 13 years (typical for most bjjers to hit black right?) at 60 bucks a belt test equals an extra ONE DOLLAR AND SOME CHANGE more a month.

I spend more money on gum..
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I think it's the principal of it. Why should I be charged for an accomplishment?
 
dazed863 said:
what a bunch of cheap asses.... you don't like belt tests then GTFO of your school plain and simple.

90% of you act there are 40 belts in BJJ...

4 belt promotions over 13 years (typical for most bjjers to hit black right?) at 60 bucks a belt test equals an extra ONE DOLLAR AND SOME CHANGE more a month.

I spend more money on gum..
Click to expand...

Just like someone said, its the principle, not the actual dollar amount. I want to get it on the podium or in class bc the teacher I respect feels this is something I earned and accomplished.
 
I don't know any instructors who charge for belt testing.

The few instructors I've trained with just promoted people when they felt it was time.

Charging for promotions is really unacceptable behavior on the instructor's part, IMO. And to have to pay to test for a single stripe is even more ridiculous.
 
dazed863 said:
what a bunch of cheap asses.... you don't like belt tests then GTFO of your school plain and simple.

90% of you act there are 40 belts in BJJ...

4 belt promotions over 13 years (typical for most bjjers to hit black right?) at 60 bucks a belt test equals an extra ONE DOLLAR AND SOME CHANGE more a month.

I spend more money on gum..
Click to expand...

Wandgun said:
I think it's the principal of it. Why should I be charged for an accomplishment?
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And, he's talking about STRIPES, not one of 4 promotions.
 
Balto said:
The worst that can happen is all of the bad blood that has been slowly building between you and the instructor finally erupts in one huge incident triggered by something relatively minor. There's usually like a fight in the gym, swearing and yelling, maybe the police get called, etc.

After that's over and you've left the gym for good, then you continue to see your instructor periodically at tournaments. Of course it is always really awkward and everyone whispers rumors about what REALLY happened between you guys. It's usually a lot worse than what really happened at this point. If it's really bad, you might have another fighting, swearing/yelling, police calling incident at the tournament too.

You guys just haven't been around long enough to see this stuff happen. If there is distrust and bad blood between you and your instructor, you can't just ignore it and train anyway until it gets so bad you get kicked out. Usually by that point it is so bad you will regret it forever.
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Wow I really don't think this would happen

a belt promotion would be at most like 50$ or so

so imagine I had to pay 50 dollars 3 times ( blue -> purple->brown)

150 dollars

and it would have taken me around, what, 6~ years minimum?

100 x 12 x 6

I would have paid 7200 just for class, and if he REALLY wanted that extra 150 that bad to get this seriously upset over, FUCK HIM

I would stick around just to prove a point
 
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newerest said:
Wow I really don't think this would happen

a belt promotion would be at most like 50$ or so

so imagine I had to pay 50 dollars 3 times ( blue -> purple->brown)

150 dollars

and it would have taken me around, what, 6~ years minimum?

100 x 12 x 6

I would have paid 7200 just for class, and if he REALLY wanted that extra 150 that bad to get this seriously upset over, FUCK HIM

I would stick around just to prove a point
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I've seen it happen a few times by now. The feuds are pretty bad and still continue to this day.

It's really not so much about the money as the principle of the thing. Instructors who charge for belts tend to be a little controlling in the first place anyway, so once they realize that you are deliberately undermining them to try to prove a point they will take it out on you real hard. To them it's like you are now a spy trying to poison their entire school.

Anytime you find yourself sticking around just to prove a point against your instructor, it will not end well.
 
I'm personally against belting testings in general, I believe it shows a cut off between the student and the coaching staff. If your coach is there doing his job that you're paying him for he should already know where you are and if you're ready to move up, you should not have to pay for some "test" to show what he should already know of you.
 
I have no problem paying for a belt test. You are paying for your instructor's time to be there with you away from his family to take you through a test. I also don't have a problem with people getting promoted just because they really deserve it.

What I do have a problem with is paying for stripes. That's just a cash grab.
 
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