Dodgy belt?

[snailfist]

Hi, i have been learning ju-shin jitsu for about 3 months now and i am a yellow belt, which i attained after 5 weeks of study. One blue belt at my club, who also attends another club, says that virtually no-one in our club is worth their belt- he is a green belt at his other club. Because there is seemingly no "industry standard" belt by a worldwide regulatory body, i cannot tell whether his other club is considered technically average or highly advanced and demanding. Given that i had to know ogoshi, o-soto-gari, tai-otoshi, kesa gatame, kami-shiho gatame, defence against punches applying those throws, defence against snap kicks, and an armlock i can't remember the japanese for, could someone with a belt in ju-jitsu please give me a clue as to how easy that is compared to their experience?:confused:

[Andrew Green]

Originally posted by snailfist
Because there is seemingly no "industry standard" belt by a worldwide regulatory body,

There it is right there... no staandards for belts, they can do whatever they want.

BUT,

Belt standards don't neccessarily relate to skill standards.

Ok after 3 years at club A you are black.

After 3 years at club B you are Blue.

What matters is how much you've learnt in those 3 years, not what colour of belt you where. If you learn more at club B, thats the better place. Just cause you wouldn't be a black belt by other clubs standards doesn't mean its a bad place...

Ignore belts completely, then make your decision.

[Aegis]

I'm only adding this as a comparisson, feel free to draw your own conclusions.

Our yellow belt syllabus consists of:

5 throws from punches (2 also from kicks)
6 Armlocks from various punches
3 wrist locks, from grabs and punches
24 atemi strikes
defence against hair and ear grabs (ear grabs not practical, but a useful way to learn the basic technique), and from double hand strangles
defence against wrist and lapel grabs
basic defence against punches and kicks.

[snailfist]

K thanks guys. what art is that Aegis? doesn't sound like ne ju-jitsu i've seen. That's not a huge amount, mind :(

[Thomas]

Different schools promote and progress at different rates. If you are happy at your school, and with the environemnt and instructor(s)... stay. If you are satisfied with your progress... stay. If you look at the senior students and honestly can say "I want to be as good as they are"... stay.

If you really are curious, see if you can observe a couple of the other school's classes and make a decision from that. Comparing belts across styles does not work, and sometimes doesn't work very welll within styles... it's more based on the school and instructors anyway.

[pesilat]

My question to the guy would have been, "If you think this school is so lame, why do you train here? Why not train exclusively at the other school?" Obviously, he feels that the school has something to offer.

Mike

[snailfist]

basically he says that he only goes for additional practice of the throws and to teach us. the thought had occured to us. Thanks tho

[morphus]

Syllibus varies from club to club, organisation to organisation.
The other club that your colleague is a member of may have very different ideas of what constitutes an all round syllibus.

Why not try visiting his club to see for yourself what is so different?
It may just be that the other club believes in a different way of learning - perhaps a little more pressure testing.
Who knows?:confused:

[snailfist]

Yeah, i do wana go there. From what i heard from other people who have been it is technically very good. I can't go though until i do my mocks because my mum reckons i have too much on my plate, with being a trombonist, magician, MA and public speaker/debater as well as being in my GCSE year

[pesilat]

Originally posted by snailfist
basically he says that he only goes for additional practice of the throws and to teach us. the thought had occured to us. Thanks tho

To teach you? He's a blue belt at your school and a green belt at another school, right? Don't know how your ranking goes, but in the ranking structures that I've dealt with, neither of those ranks is a teaching rank. And if someone (of any rank) came into my class and tried to "teach" my students without permission (i.e.: I haven't invited them in as a guest instructor), I'd be a bit miffed (to put it very mildly).

So what does your instructor think of the situation?

Usually, comments like that are rooted in politics (and they're probably so far over the guy's head that he doesn't even know what he's talking about, he was just parroting what he's heard at the other school).

My suggestion would be to go to the other school, with an open and objective mind and eye, and see if you think his comment has any merit (of course, with only 5 weeks under your belt, you may not have any foundation for judging it).

Personally, I don't see 5 weeks as "too short" for getting to yellow belt (assuming yellow belt is your second belt). Most curriculums that I've seen use the first belt (usually white) as a kind of "orientation" period. They teach the basic punches, kicks, stances, throws, locks (whatever the art uses) that will be used throughout the rest of the curriculum. All they're looking for is a rudimentary level of proficiency with the tools at that stage. From there, it should get more difficult and more demanding. But every school/system is different.

For me, the bottom line has always been this set of questions:
Do you enjoy the training?
Do you like the instructor as a person?
Do you like how and what the instructor teaches?

If the answer to all of these is "yes" then you should feel that you can trust the instructor. If you trust the instructor, then don't worry about what other people say - they almost always have agendas of their own.

Now, is this a sure-fire methodology? No. It's possible to be mislead. But, in my experience, if you're honest with yourself and look at things objectively, common sense will often ferret out problems. You may or may not be able to intellectually pinpoint the issues, but you'll feel that they're there. If they are, then you won't be able to answer a definitive "yes" to all of the questions above.

Mike

[Aegis]

Originally posted by snailfist
K thanks guys. what art is that Aegis? doesn't sound like ne ju-jitsu i've seen. That's not a huge amount, mind :(

It's a style of jujutsu derived from Shorinji Kan Jujutsu, which is in it's second generation now. Generally the clubs are limited to English universities, with a few town clubs scattered here and there.

It's not a huge amount, but it has to be done well, with the attacks coming in at full speed. The next grade revises the techniques already learned, and adds leglocks, necklocks, weapons work, more punch defences, 5 more throws and generally more aggression. The leap from yellow to orange is quite a scary one, but not as bad as.... well, the leap from any higher grade to the one above it ;)