Politics in BJJ belting

[ijustwannasurf]

Hi Ijustwannasurf, your teaching style is great and you are a great tacher and your students are super nice. I just felt bad about being a strapped for cash student and I knew I would not be able to afford. I hope we are still friends.

Did uchmata get his brown? He was very good at jiu jitsu

I don't want you to switch academies, I just want you to come train when you want! I respect your loyalty to your squad. And we are friends, so just come train!

 

[Vitamin C]

Dunno if you could consider it to be politics, but I was passed by for a promotion because I have stopped handing in my tip cards.
Guys who I out train in terms of frequency and handle easily on the mat now outrank me by several stripes. I expect they will have their purple belts within the next couple of months (upcoming seminars).

The experiment continues.

edit; I don't think it's politics. I think it's an over reliance and trust in a flawed system of predetermined progression handed down by associations to instructors who feel they are bound to comply with black and white policies for the benefits of promoting a famous brand of BJJ.

Yeah, wait, maybe that's politics.

 

[Balto]

Dunno if you could consider it to be politics, but I was passed by for a promotion because I have stopped handing in my tip cards.
Guys who I out train in terms of frequency and handle easily on the mat now outrank me by several stripes. I expect they will have their purple belts within the next couple of months (upcoming seminars).

The experiment continues.

edit; I don't think it's politics. I think it's an over reliance and trust in a flawed system of predetermined progression handed down by associations to instructors who feel they are bound to comply with black and white policies for the benefits of promoting a famous brand of BJJ.

Yeah, wait, maybe that's politics.

I think the biggest takeaway from this is that your instructors haven't noticed that your card doesn't match your real attendance.

In other words, they aren't paying much attention at all.

 

[Calibur]

Dunno if you could consider it to be politics, but I was passed by for a promotion because I have stopped handing in my tip cards.
Guys who I out train in terms of frequency and handle easily on the mat now outrank me by several stripes.

LOL. I don't consider people higher rank just because they have more stripes than.

What kind of petty shiznit is that?

 

[dokomoy]

I think the biggest takeaway from this is that your instructors haven't noticed that your card doesn't match your real attendance.

In other words, they aren't paying much attention at all.

I think a lot of gyms that have gone to attendance cards have also gone to awarding stripes based on those cards.

 

[Vitamin C]

I think the biggest takeaway from this is that your instructors haven't noticed that your card doesn't match your real attendance.

In other words, they aren't paying much attention at all.

I know. :/

LOL. I don't consider people higher rank just because they have more stripes than.

What kind of petty shiznit is that?

I honestly stopped caring a while back, but it's been interesting to see how it plays out. Guys who comes to class a fraction of the time I do now "out rank" me, and stand higher up the line when we line up before and after class, in order of rank of course, lol.

I have had some guys be uncomfortable lining up ahead of me. I get a chuckle out of it.

 

[Hendo89]

'Slaw

 

[Vitamin C]

I think a lot of gyms that have gone to attendance cards have also gone to awarding stripes based on those cards.

25 classes per stripe on a white belt, 50 per stripe on a blue.

This means a total of 125 classes to be eligible for a blue belt, which is feasibly done in and around one year with 2-3x a week attendance. We've even been told about how "technically after your fourth stripe you need another 25 classes to be eligible for a blue belt." They take their attendance cards very seriously.

We have some terrible blue belts. It used to bug me, but I realized 'who gives a shit it's just a blue belt.'

 

[Balto]

I think a lot of gyms that have gone to attendance cards have also gone to awarding stripes based on those cards.

I am a big fan of attendance cards actually. It is really useful data that helps with a lot of things, even in addition to promotion decisions.

The thing is though that the data needs to be analyzed by an instructor who actually cares about doing his job. Otherwise you get absurd results.

If the instructor is actually paying attention to things, he should notice the vast inconsistency of someone never turning in his card. If you go months without doing it, your card will show you absent for several months straight. If you are training regularly during this period, this should be an absurd result. The instructor should notice this and ask the student why he is not turning in his card.

We do attendance cards at my school. Occasionally I will not turn it in for a few classes because it got misfiled, and I don't want to take the time to look through all the other cards to find it. The longest I've been able to go is about one week before my instructor notices and tells me to just go find it or make a new card. I attend very consistently. If my card isn't there, it's a huge red flag.

If I could go months without my instructor noticing, it would mean that my instructor hasn't been paying enough attention to tell the difference between months of consistent attendance versus months of complete absence. I'd find a new school if that happened because I'm paying for an experienced instructor to pay attention to me. If I just wanted mat time, after doing BJJ for ten years, I could just train for free in exchange for teaching at numerous smaller gyms in the area.

 

[Vitamin C]

I should clarify.

I hand in an attendance card every time I train. This is also logged by a computer, so ready access to a total count of my attendance is seconds away.

I no longer participate in the tip card process, which is a card that students are expected to present to the instructor when they have met the requirements for their next stripe. Mine was never refiled after my last striping I assume by mistake, and rather than bring it up and continue to chase the next stripe, I just continued on my training as usual. I'd actually decided after that stripe that I was going to stop the process regardless. The fact that it was never replaced was serendipitous.

Maybe I'm wrong though, maybe it's being withheld from me intentionally for some possible slight! :O Haha. Now that would be politics.

Promotions at my school seem to be 100% reliant on stripe adherence. I've never seen a 3 striper get the next belt. Of course, I'm probably the first to consciously opt out of striping at my school. People likely just assume that this is a part of Jiu Jitsu and how it is done everywhere.

 

[Calibur]

I should clarify.

I hand in an attendance card every time I train. This is also logged by a computer, so ready access to a total count of my attendance is seconds away.

I no longer participate in the tip card process, which is a card that students are expected to present to the instructor when they have met the requirements for their next stripe. Mine was never refiled after my last striping I assume by mistake, and rather than bring it up and continue to chase the next stripe, I just continued on my training as usual. I'd actually decided after that stripe that I was going to stop the process regardless. The fact that it was never replaced was serendipitous.

Maybe I'm wrong though, maybe it's being withheld from me intentionally for some possible slight! :O Haha. Now that would be politics.

Promotions at my school seem to be 100% reliant on stripe adherence. I've never seen a 3 striper get the next belt. Of course, I'm probably the first to consciously opt out of striping at my school. People likely just assume that this is a part of Jiu Jitsu and how it is done everywhere.

For context, at most gyms I go to stripes are handed to the guys who you fear may not be confident.

If you got a guy who says, win or lose, I'm gonna get better. You don't give him stripes, you just wait. He comes in everyday and one day he gets promoted. Maybe he had one stripe on his belt the day he gets his blue.

Other guys are people who try real hard. Come in most days, but have interesting lives so BJJ might not be their main thing. they try a tournament and lose, or they watch the friend who they signed up with get their blue belt and they ask "why am I even here?"

The stripe was the coaches way of saying, "You're not a blue belt, but you ARE improving. Don't give up."

I know this sounds like I'm trying to be pretentious, and I swear I don't mean to come off this way but ......I see stripes as a sign of weakness. Giving them, talking about them, etc. A crutch for people who instructors feel don't know how to motivate themselves.

So when I hear about systemized striping schemes, I just think "institutionalized weakness."

Spoiler

full disclosure. It still feels pretty nice to get a stripe.

 

[Ckaa]

stripes and attendances cards... yeah bjj is on the good way...

McDojoish.

 

[lechien]

Do you realise that your instructor does not even care as much as you do about their promotion system?

 

[RTD1]

I should clarify.

I hand in an attendance card every time I train. This is also logged by a computer, so ready access to a total count of my attendance is seconds away.

I no longer participate in the tip card process, which is a card that students are expected to present to the instructor when they have met the requirements for their next stripe. Mine was never refiled after my last striping I assume by mistake, and rather than bring it up and continue to chase the next stripe, I just continued on my training as usual. I'd actually decided after that stripe that I was going to stop the process regardless. The fact that it was never replaced was serendipitous.

Maybe I'm wrong

This is the first I've ever heard of a "tip card" in addition to the regular attendance card. Is this a thing? We have attendance cards where I train, but it's treated more as a minimum requirement rather than a "you will get your next stripe on your 26th visit" schedule. And I've never heard anyone here, other than an occasional 8 year old in the kids class, actually remind a coach or professor that it's time for their next stripe, that's kinda fucked up IMO.

 

[jujijimmy]

the best systems are ones imo are the ones based purely on ability. then id go with attendance, then finally the system that sucks the most is the one that is not based on ability or attendance. its a system based on politics and money

 

[Dogstarman]

Lol. I've had my blue for 4 years. My coach tells me, without me asking, your ready for your purple belt in 3 months.

I don't say anything just smile and nod my head. He tells me that once every quarter for about 2 years now. I don't care that much. I just put my head down and keep training.

 

[GmGolden1]

I think the biggest takeaway from this is that your instructors haven't noticed that your card doesn't match your real attendance.

In other words, they aren't paying much attention at all.

I wouldn't assume that the instructor didn't notice. The instructor may just be waiting for the student to comply with the academy's requirements as a way of teaching the student responsibility. If everyone else in the academy is filling out their attendance cards or whatever, why should one student be treated differently because he can't (or won't) follow the rules of the academy.

 

[ElKarlo]

I think the biggest takeaway from this is that your instructors haven't noticed that your card doesn't match your real attendance.

In other words, they aren't paying much attention at all.

I did the same at my old gym. They finally promoted me after 3-4 years as a wb. Didn't notice me at all. Despite me being on the mma team. Which I was a founding member of too. Big gyms don't care

 

[Balto]

I wouldn't assume that the instructor didn't notice. The instructor may just be waiting for the student to comply with the academy's requirements as a way of teaching the student responsibility. If everyone else in the academy is filling out their attendance cards or whatever, why should one student be treated differently because he can't (or won't) follow the rules of the academy.

If a student is openly not following the rules, the instructor should say something to the student.

 

[PabloMEX]

stripes and attendances cards... yeah bjj is on the good way...

McDojoish.

Someone had to say it.