Never ask a black belt to roll.

[Lobo]

I actually encourage all my students to ask me to roll. Honestly, nothing bothers me more than to be sitting in the middle of the mat with no one coming up to me for a roll.

 

[sitcharoo**]

It is most likely a deterrent to the larger portion of white belts who would like to see just how good a blackbelt is in sparring.

I once witnessed a white belt rolling with a blackbelt (said whitebelt outweighed said blackbelt by 25kgs) fortuitously gain a toehold on the blackbelt during this light roll, and thus advanced to finish with incredible gusto. The blackbelt, noticeably taken aback by how much momentum said whitebelt had publicized, tried to roll and then tapped mid escape.

The blackbelt asked to roll again, and dominated said whitebelt for 20 minutes, frequently tapping him from positions like mount, by driving his hips own to the mat, or from sidecontrol, by leaning all the weight from the shoulder, to the jaw.

 

[Darkslide632]

I generally don't get to ask anyone to roll as my instructor matches people up.

 

[Aesopian]

These are my rules:

• Do not ask black belts to spar.
• Do not stand with your belt knot directly facing a black belt.
• Do not make direct eye contact with black belts.
• Respect the black belt's 10-foot territorial bubble.
• Do not sleep with your feet facing a black belt.
• Address black belts with usted, never tu.

 

[Balto]

These are my rules:

• Do not ask black belts to spar.
• Do not stand with your belt knot directly facing a black belt.
• Do not make direct eye contact with black belts.
• Respect the black belt's 10-foot territorial bubble.
• Do not sleep with your feet facing a black belt.
• Address black belts with usted, never tu.

Seems pretty simple and easy to follow.

 

[Marbig]

My instructor doesn't spar with any of us during class. This is because he prefers to give equal attention to all of us and look out for potential injuries.

I have seen him rolling with students after class though- particularly when they are getting ready to compete. I tried one round with him when I came early one day and it was nice- I got subbed like three billion times in five minutes but I never got hurt and walked away learning something. He was also pretty nice about it (definitely no superiority complex or anything).

 

[nefti]

Other than cultural/martial arts traditional reasons there are some real practical reasons why the highest belt choosing makes things alot easier on the gym especially if it's a large gym.

 

[Diomedes84]

I've never experienced this. Our BB rolls with us ALL the time and generally goes just slightly above the skill level of whoever he's rolling with (i.e. just enough to push you). He usually taps me but I'm aware he isn't going at anywhere near 100%. I've also seen him absolutely demolish a visiting BB that was two weeks out from going to ADCC. *Shrug*

IMHO: If a BB is angry about a lower belt wanting to roll with him he's a jerk or not sure of his skills.

 

[mark lenn]

I hope this is a rare case and that most gyms don't have issues like this.

There should be absolutely no ego/hate for a TEAMATE asking yor for a PRACTICE roll (I fail to see why someone would go berzerk on a lower belt teammate who just wants to practice). Asking a upper belt for a structural/timed roll is usually a good thing (that kinda how you get better).

The whole point of a roll is for you and your teammate to get better. Going bezerk on somone for no reason isn't really productive and shows no class.

I'm currently on a hiatus but when I trained BJJ, I rolled with black belts all the time (all of them resisted just enough to allow me to work, only allowed me to pass when I did the technique right, and often did drills such move from side control to side controll while making sure my hands where tucked in). This of course (to no surprise) made me alot better and is argueably one of the best teaching methods in the art (this isn't rocket science).

There must be ego issues in TC's case. Asking a teammate for practice/help regardless of rank should NEVER be an issue as long as your polite and have a good attittude

 

[Kaldog]

TS

The black belt who did that is an utter prick, bjj is better off without him. I'd have no issue in asking my instructor (Steve Campbell Stealth BJJ) to roll. I wouldn't expect him to abuse his power and knowledge and fuck me up

 

[Irenaeus]

These are my rules:

• Do not ask black belts to spar.
• Do not stand with your belt knot directly facing a black belt.
• Do not make direct eye contact with black belts.
  [*]Respect the black belt's 10-foot territorial bubble.
• Do not sleep with your feet facing a black belt.
• Address black belts with usted, never tu.

Strong avatar-to-post-content-ratio.

 

[Task]

ive rolled with 2 black belts. they completely tooled me but weren't rough or mad and definitely didn't act like they felt disrespected.

in fact, after every submission, and sometimes during the middle of our roll, they would take the time to instruct me and correct some of my mistakes. they have always been gracious.

This has only ever been my experience. I've even had a black belt tell me to apply a choke so that I know what I am doing, but as i locked i managed to let go almost instantly.

I guess TS had someone with a power trip roll with him. I get the whole pissing contest, but that guy has no concept of what martial arts is if he's willing to completely tool a new person in the sport.

THAT SAID... some white belts fucking deserve some shit, tends to be the newer guys that just go for broke and try and grab onto you without any concept of taking it easy and not trying to injure someone. Not that you are like that TS, but this can happen.

 

[Steeltwo]

Dude was a prick. He could have said no if he didn't want to roll.
Instead he power trips and beats you down.

I've rolled with 2 BB's. Both destroyed me in their own style.
But neither was trying to hurt me or prove a point.