Media Rei Tsuruya Reuniting with Demian Maia

Rei is only a purple belt? He's either sandbagging or really damn good for a purple belt.
 
Pierced7681 said:
Probably just doesn’t train a lot in the gi. Most bjj instructors only promote fast if you train in the gi
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Very good point. Wonder if anyone will ever beat Travis Steven's time to black but that was with his enormous judo background
 
WoozyFailGuy said:
Rei is only a purple belt? He's either sandbagging or really damn good for a purple belt.
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Pierced7681 said:
Probably just doesn’t train a lot in the gi. Most bjj instructors only promote fast if you train in the gi
Click to expand...

What even is sandbagging in BJJ? The Ruotolo brothers didn't have their black belts in BJJ until they were like 21, but were shredding black belts for years already. A lot of coaches explain it as "the belt system is based on knowledge, personal potential, experience and demonstrable technique." I've seen too many hyper athletic blue belts who have been training 4-5 days a week, as many hours as they can possibly get in each day for 2 years and foing to grappling tournaments on the weekends who...maybe don't have the knowledge or the wide array of learned techniques but just in straight up rolling? They're fucking up tons of purple and brown belts, like embarrassing type shit. Is that sandbagging?

I'm not questioning you as if you're wrong, I'm just questioning you. I'm not even sure anymore. I was a combat sambo guy and an amateur fighter when I was in my teens and early 20s, the only gis I ever put on were for Sambo, a little Judo, Karate and Tae Kwon Do. When I stopped training for years and moved across the country I joined a new gym and I decided to join the Gi BJJ classes for the experience, I started as a white belt and I thought I'd get quickly promoted because of my experience and when I'd roll, I was dominating a lot of the upper belts. I was going to blue and purple no gi tournaments and getting medals but my Gi coach didn't want to give me a blue belt yet and...I just sorta respected that, he had his reasons and I don't even think they were sandbagging. Things like he wanted me to show up to class more since he knew I privatized boxing and No Gi etc. He also wanted to know I was loyal to him, since I did cross train elsewhere and he just wanted students to be with him a certain amount of time before being promoted under him and his lineage.

BJJ belts and belt systems in general can be kinda odd.
 
HuskySamoan said:
What even is sandbagging in BJJ? The Ruotolo brothers didn't have their black belts in BJJ until they were like 21, but were shredding black belts for years already. A lot of coaches explain it as "the belt system is based on knowledge, personal potential, experience and demonstrable technique." I've seen too many hyper athletic blue belts who have been training 4-5 days a week, as many hours as they can possibly get in each day for 2 years and foing to grappling tournaments on the weekends who...maybe don't have the knowledge or the wide array of learned techniques but just in straight up rolling? They're fucking up tons of purple and brown belts, like embarrassing type shit. Is that sandbagging?

I'm not questioning you as if you're wrong, I'm just questioning you. I'm not even sure anymore. I was a combat sambo guy and an amateur fighter when I was in my teens and early 20s, the only gis I ever put on were for Sambo, a little Judo, Karate and Tae Kwon Do. When I stopped training for years and moved across the country I joined a new gym and I decided to join the Gi BJJ classes for the experience, I started as a white belt and I thought I'd get quickly promoted because of my experience and when I'd roll, I was dominating a lot of the upper belts. I was going to blue and purple no gi tournaments and getting medals but my Gi coach didn't want to give me a blue belt yet and...I just sorta respected that, he had his reasons and I don't even think they were sandbagging. Things like he wanted me to show up to class more since he knew I privatized boxing and No Gi etc. He also wanted to know I was loyal to him, since I did cross train elsewhere and he just wanted students to be with him a certain amount of time before being promoted under him and his lineage.

BJJ belts and belt systems in general can be kinda odd.
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I think the definition that I had in mind when it came to sandbagging was usually the student being kept at a lower belt specifically to represent the school well in tournaments. I agree with you that the belt system isn't set in stone and there are tons of low belt/nonbelt guys with different backgrounds (especially Sambo/Judo guys) who can roll effortlessly even if they're technically "a noob". I had a similar experience where I was going to higher level no gi competitions as a lower belt, but that was 100% because my coach sandbagged me, wanted me to fuck up the other gyms star guys at purple/blue (the other gym was literally across the street from us lol, cartoonish rivalry).
I guess the BJJ belts, except for the "hardcore" lineages have, like Karate belts before them, turned into a more personal by gym/trainer thing as you alluded to.
 
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