I saw a gym recently where they claimed to have BJJ, but upon further investiagion the guy leading the BJJ class is a blue belt (there is no higher BJJ practioner there). Is that normal in BJJ? I know that in most arts, you must be a black belt to run a gym. What is your experience?
It is a OK if not best to have a blue belt teacher. Long as he is honest about his rank and you know what you are getting. What is not OK is for someone with blue belt level skills (or worse) pretend to be a black belt.
I started teaching as a Blue Belt and had a good group of guys, but I trained under a Black belt every week and he closely supervised me.
I don't see anything wrong with blue belts as assistant instructors, but to be the sole BJJ teacher somewhere, I think you should be at least a high purple getting ready to move up to brown.
There are people who have been blue belts for four years and up, meaning their experience is easily comparable to black belts in numerous other martial arts styles: e.g., I'm sure there are many Taekwondo black belts with less time than that in their discipline. If you're a white belt, then there is plenty you can learn from a good blue belt. A black belt is generally preferable, but there's nothing wrong with a good blue belt teaching beginners.
That was kinda my thought, but again I'm no BJJ expert. In my previous gym, the instructor would have lower ranks lead classes and such. But they werent' the final authority on all matter, the instructor was, and he was of high rank.
You can teach at any belt. Same thing for judo btw - we've got clubs in small towns run by orange belts (yonkyu). Of course, your students have to take the experience of their teachers into account. On a slightly different topic, in Canada you're soon going to have to have a NCCP (National Coaching Certificate Program) certificate if you teach in a club recognized by Judo Canada ... same thing as other olympic sports. A black belt without one won't be allowed to teach, a white belt with one will. This is mainly because its a requirement of Sports Canada for sports that want federal funding, but it also is there for insurance reasons ... the idea being that the coaching certificate means you should know how to take care of the safety of your students, even if you don't know much about the technical aspect of your sport. Of course, you could always have a judo club not affiliated with Judo Canada, though it means your students won't be allowed to compete in provincial and higher tournaments (again, mainly because of insurance).
Wouldnt the fact that someone has been on the same belt for 4+ years ring any warning bells? Maybe that just common in BJJ. At my old gym, it took 5-6 years to get a black belt fwiw.
It really depends on the Black belt who is in charge. He will only allow Blues to teach if he is confident in that belts abilities. You have to remember that school represents that Black belt, b/c rep is big in this sport.
Well what I was trying to say is that there is no black belt there. Justa blue belt running a BJJ class on the side.
Yes it should mean they are VERY proficient and probably better than their belt. :icon_chee Your gonna have a big adjustment to make in training BJJ :redface::redface:
I would say that you should probably have a blue to teach. Blue means that you have a basic understanding of jiu jitsu. I could also see it if there is no one else in a certain town that teaches jiu jitsu, that someone could start teaching at blue.
What is the average length of time to acquire a BB in BJJ? For the sake of argument, let's say this is assuming you work a regular job and train 3 times a week.
I think that people starting their own gyms and making people pay to have a blue belt teach a class is completely ridiculous. In Japan, to teach any martial art, you have to have at least 20-30 years experience to be a head instructor at a dojo. I think if a blue belt wants to teach in a place where there is really no other option for people who want to learn, the best thing to do is to start a club. At the very least, I would say a three or four stripe purple would be sufficient to teach, and have people pay for their instruction.
Our main instructor is purple with 2 stripes. Then we have another purple that teaches some classes as well as a blue. This is a new school with only a handful of guys that have more than a white belt. I learn just as much from the blue as I do from the purples. He has a great way of teaching and I have been more than satisfied with answers he gives me when I ask questions. IMO, blue is fine for teaching new comers.
