My coach won't promote me (bjj)

@Jonathan15, keep at it, it will all work out. You’re going to get your next belt before I will. I’ve been a BJJ white belt for twenty six years.

 

Sure it does. It's a symbol of acomplishment and a recognition of improvement. It marks off goals met and represents achievement.

These are all very important psychological factors in creating and maintaining motivation.

If you're playing a game and never win, how long are you going to keep playing?

This is both one of the drawbacks and one of the advantages of rank grading systems in martial arts.

So, yes, you're right, technically, that lack of a belt or rank doesn't mean the skill isn't there. But it does mean that the skills which may be there are unrecognized by the people who are supposed to not only be giving you those skills, but recognizing when you have them. Which, again, means significantly declining motivation.

Peace favor your sword,
Kirk

 

Rank can also be a requirement for certain privileges. For example, in KKW Taekwondo you need to be a 4th degree to become a master and have more autonomy.

 

I understand that is the rule in KKW but you have to give a nod to someone who has continually worked out for decades, has tons of applied experience, but for what ever reason chose not to go high in ranking. I see that as a harder and possibly less focused path but the accomplishment is still there. I feel this is the thought process of a lot of folks who buck the belt system(s). I do think credibility outside the ring/mat is harder to establish without some sort of identification so if you are taking a more wholistic, long term view of training belting is very beneficial.
I for one enjoy and need the target but I don't think I actively go to class thinking I have to do/learn "X" to get to my next belt.

 

Actually in BJJ it is pretty easy.

Compete.

 

Isn’t that true of all the primary styles today?

 

Perhaps but that’s not the case for everyone. In my area Muay Thai gyms are some of the most popular places. While yes karate schools do have good student numbers but Muay Thai gyms definitely have more variety of students and I’ve spoken to a few who’ve come from traditional styles and one of their reasons for not training traditional is because they don’t enjoy the belt aspect. They don’t like how training is more centred around learning new material to get a belt and they prefer the more relaxed culture of Muay Thai gyms because there’s no hierarchy. Everyone in the gym does the same things and works with everyone, of course there’s the higher level people (the fighters or more experienced ) but it’s not determined by rank which is what some people like.

I don’t disagree with your point on belts especially for kids though

 

Naturally. Nevertheless, it is a prevalent part of human psychology.

Peace favor your sword,
Kirk

 

I don't know. BJJ comps generally have an open category. If you think you are a gun white belt. You can show people exactly how good you are.

 

Feeling like you missed out on a promotion sucks
Life and BJJ are not pure meritocracies and generally speaking the quiet, reserved, shy people get noticed less and as a result get promoted more slowly
At the end of the day you have to decide what you do in response....
Mostly when I’ve felt that I’ve missed out on a grading it’s irritated me and I’ve trained harder to prove the point

 

I got promoted by the way. Dislocated my toe halfway through my grading and still had to roll for twenty minutes with fresh guys.

 

Ah awesome, congrats! Ouch.. hope the toe recovers!

 

Funny story. At my 4th Dan (I think) testing my right thumb was dislocated by a gi (dobak) sleeve. My thumb was almost touching the top of my wrist. We stopped for a few minutes and a male student who was in M.D. school at Vanderbilt came over to help. He looked at it but would barely touch it and finally said something like "I think it is broken and needs to be set". I was much younger then and tended to have an emotional surge during an injury (still do). I gingerly grabbed my thump and started pulling. When I figured out which way to pull it made a noise I cannot really describe but will never forget when it finally jumped back in place. When it did the 'doctor' passed smooth out.
Had the thumb taped to my hand and kept going with testing. I am left handed so there was very little I could not still do. Granted my sparring style changed quite a bit after that.