How do you guys make the area for your stripes on your belt? I a stripe sitting at home but no black area on my belt for them, and I don't want to buy a belt with a blackened area already on it.
At my academy you get white stripes if you have the black tab, and black stripes if you don't. Probably the best solution. Ask your instructor for a different colored stripe. ^_^ Take care, Stalks (More seriously, never seen someone make their own stripe area. Doubt it would look great...)
What do the stripes actually denote in BJJ? I'm guessing you earn a certain ammount of them before you obtain the next belt?
I think they are used because there often are large differences in skill even at the same belt rank. A two month white belt and a 2.5 year white belt will have a big skill defference. The stripes help denote this. Just my opinion though.
Some BJJ schools use them, e.g. the Machado schools. They're actually not a bad idea, as 1bad65 says. It means that you can distinguish between people who just stepped on the mat that day and people who are getting their blue belt tomorrow, hence preventing injuries as people presume a level of familiarity with certain techniques.
If that were the case, why not just introduce loads of different coloured grades inbetween white/blue or blue/purple ala TKD? Isn't the point of BJJ gradings that its about the ability? What if the 2 month white belt can wipe the floor with all the 2.5 year white belts? What good are their tags & time served then? I think its an unfortunate reflection of the westernisation of martial arts & despite its desire to not be, relects how bjj also has become in part a fairly "traditional" martial art in the way it has developed and is graded
I find your comparison somewhat ironic, since BJJ has been around longer than most "traditional" Korean martial arts like TKD.....
Then he gets as many stripes as them and/or gets promoted to blue, depending on how much better he is. The stripes denote skill, not time spent. Ever heard of BJ Penn?
Exactly. The promotions being earned by skill vs earned through just time is one thing that makes BJJ a great art IMO. We have a guy at our gym who started BJJ eight months AFTER I did(and he had no prvious experience). On the day I was awarded my blue belt, he was awarded his purple. And yes, he is alot better than I am.
Who? What has B J Penn got to do with the increased commercialism of BJJ and the introduction of a tiered grading system that does nothing but cater to the masses because they don't have the patience to train & wait til they are promoted by skill to the next colour? p.s mightclaw, the point was that despite how long it's been around, it wasn't taught or trained or graded as a "traditional" art. Now it is.
How is it trained or graded as a "traditional" art? The ranking system is *still* entirely merit based. The stripes are indicators of skill - it's there to differentiate brand-new white belts from about-to-get-their-blue's and so on. You have not established whatsoever that BJJ is "catering to the masses" when there's a perfectly logical explanation (safety) for the stripe system - far from it. BJ Penn received his black belt in 3.5 years. He received it because he was as good as a black belt. It only took him a few months for his blue belt - I probably won't get mine until 2 or so years of training, and it'll take me longer to get my purple than it took Penn to get his black.
By introducing stripes as a marker of progress. Its just a way of keeping people paying money and to stop them from feeling like they aren't progressing or losing interest. How is it any different to a dozen different coloured belts? If you are going to use stripes, why not just introduce yellow, green, blue w/yellow stripe, orange w/red stripe, mauve polkadot & brown paisley or any other colour? I'm feeling belligerent today...I'll go on...how else are they run "traditionally"? For that read "Commercialism" - Look at the prices of many schools and their monthly payment plans! Plus when you add in the elitism of many BJJ schools - "you can only wear our patches", "you can't train at another school", I think its possibly worse than the way many TMA organisations dictate to their members! Yes *cough* money *cough*
Garibaldi, I have to disagree. First of all my academy, a Renzo affiliate, uses stripes. No one is charged a penny for a stripe or a belt promotion. As a matter of fact when I was awarded my blue belt I was handed it for free(after being whipped with it). And as for feeling like you are progressing, you notice that when you roll. When you start tapping more experienced guys and when guys who used to 'play' with you now have to work hard to catch you you know you are getting better. Also, do you train BJJ?
Curse them for encouraging students to keep coming back by letting them have an accurate measure of progress! In my day, they were kept in the dark and they liked it, and if you got heel-hooked by a white belt who had been at it for 2 years well you took it like a man and thanked him for it! edit: Concerning the elitism - it *is* a combat sport. If I ran a boxing gym I'd make sure my fighters wore only my gym's insignia.
There is good & bad in all arts & I was emphasizing the bad aspects. I'm glad you have a great club. Conversely though...what would your club say about training with a different BJJ school? Agreed - so why the need for stripes? & yes I do train in BJJ.
Depends on the association - in Rickson's association it's one blue stripe for a technical examination where you're expected to show technical understanding of the techniques. Next is full Blue Belt which is all about full application of those techniques in a resisted grading. You sometimes see white belt, 4 blue stripes, where the full belt grading was attempted but it was a case of "very close, but no cigar - better luck next time" Same pattern is repeated all the way up.
Yer making this more complicated than it is. As has been stated several times above, you can walk on the floor and at a glance know who is truly a beginner and who is not. It really is that simple. Our school charges 40/month, no charge for rank testing, and belts are awarded based on skill. My particular club doesn't care where else you train, but lots do - it's not a BJJ issue as you seem to be implying, it's down to the trainer. My TKD instructor doesn't like to hear about my MMA training so much, but my BJJ/MMA trainer could care less if I'm a member of 40 other clubs.
Don't mean to be making things complex. In fact I'd rather it be kept completely simple...white/blue/purple/brown etc The thing I don't agree with is some of the commercialisation of it. If, as you say, you can tell at a glance who is beginner & who is not, what purpose do stripes serve if not to satisfy the ego of the student?
