Tap Cancer out - New Haven, CT 2023

I was recently asked this question...How does a coach decide if a student is ready for their BJJ black belt?

To answer this question honestly and thoroughly could make for a novel, but I will try to give the Reader’s Digest version of what I look for when deciding if someone is ready for their black belt…their BJJ black belt.  I clarify BJJ black belt because in my opinion it is the hardest belt (of the arts in which I have trained) to attain. I personally went through blood, sweat and tears to earn it, and even still I look down upon my waist and wonder if I am worthy. 

That feeling is common among BJJ black belts, and I think the main reason is that in Jiu-jitsu, you are always under pressure. It never ends. It only increases…the pressure to get better, the pressure to keep up with an evolving art, the pressure to pass on what you know to others, to lead by example, to not become complacent.  By its very nature BJJ is a pressure testing art. For as long as you train you will have good days and bad days. Days when you can’t lose and days when you can’t win. Not everyone will make it to the day when their coach gives them the nod and promotes them to black belt and that’s OK, not everyone should make it.
 

So what goes into the decision to promote or not to promote? In no particular order, a black belt should be tough (very tough), technical, well-rounded, battle tested, consistent in training, honorable, disciplined in their own training, able to teach others, have passion for the art, look after and have compassion for the other students, accept constructive criticism, always evolve, still push themselves physically and mentally, not dodge the “hard rolls”, have the ability to think on their own (be creative), be confident but humble, not forget what it is like to be a white belt, be willing to put themselves in the fire, to sweat, to bleed and even cry. They have to be willing to fail over and over again…to fail forward…
 

One of the reasons it takes so long to become a BJJ black belt is time and grade. A good coach wants to know you and not just a little. They want to really know you. A black belt will carry on the coach’s name and the academy reputation. What kind of person are you? Are you only in it for the belt? To win some medals? Sure your tough, your technical etc…but are you also a good person. You can fake it around your coach short term. You can’t fake it for 10 years. The very nature of BJJ training will force you to expose your true personality (the good and the bad) will show itself. Many people have said what they think a black belt should be, but until you are a black belt (and for a while) you can’t possibly know.
 

I have heard several BJJ coaches use this simple formula when deciding whether or not to promote a student to black belt, and I could not agree more…we as coaches don’t look for reasons why we should promote a student. Instead, we look for reasons not to promote a student and when the student eliminates all of those reasons/doubts, leaving the coach with no credible reason not to promote...that is when a BJJ black belt is born.
 

While each belt is a journey, for those who make it, the black belt is worn the longest…
 

-Rob Magao (3rd degree Pedro Sauer Black Belt)