General Belt Promotion Criteria from white to blue belt
General Belt Promotion Criteria with an Emphasis on the White Belt Experience
As a jiu-jitsu school owner in Tucson, AZ, one of the most common questions I hear is, “what do I need to do to get to the next belt level?” Now that jiu-jitsu has reached an even broader audience in the United States; it is not uncommon to have a conversation about what it takes to get to the next belt level. Belt promotion, or leveling-up, depends on what goals you are aiming to achieve. For instance, if you are a competitor looking to become a professional jiu-jitsu athlete, your belt level may change by how you perform in your division. If you are a hobbyist, your belt-level progression will be contingent upon how often you train and how committed you are to the hobby in your local school. Whether competing as a professional or hobbyist, the IBJJF has a time standardization that helps coaches navigate whether to promote a student. It is important to note that while a student may meet a time requirement, it does not necessarily mean they are ready for promotion.
Mostly, we will be referencing what it takes a hobbyist to level up as their population comprises most of any jiu-jitsu school. Before moving forward, it is essential to describe the belts and stripes, if applicable, in the school. The belt system of jiu-jitsu has mostly stayed the same in the last twenty years, with the only significant changes being to kids’ belt promotions. The adult belt progression goes from white, blue, purple, brown, and black for the adult divisions, whether a hobbyist or competitor—most students who stay in the sport rise to the black belt, the highest belt. Generally, it takes a minimum of ten years to achieve the black belt. There are ceremonial belts after the black belt; however, they are solely related to time constraints. While there is an inherent demonstration of skill, it becomes about the practitioner and their contribution to jiu-jitsu. The highest of these ceremonial belts is the red belt, and if a student received their black belt at age eighteen, the soonest they could receive their red belt is age sixty-seven. Most students will receive only one of the five significant belts in jiu-jitsu and stripes or degrees. According to the IBJJF standard, students will receive four degrees on their belt, followed by their next belt. For example, the IBJJF standard requires a person to stay in the blue belt for two years. If a student trains regularly, three to four times a week, one can estimate they will receive a degree roughly every four to six months. However, life events, injuries, and general time off the mat can influence these promotion times. The opposite can be true if someone can dedicate themselves to the sport. While not the norm, the student may be ahead of the promotion standard set by the IBJJF. It is essential to state that outside of the time standard provided by the IBJJF, promotions are mainly subjective. The school owner and coaches are responsible for tracking promotions, and communication is vital. Now, with a general frame of reference, we can dive into the finer details of each belt, what to expect for promotion, and the available time length it takes for jiu-jitsu promotion.
The white belt is the first belt a student will wear upon signing up. As a rule of thumb, when looking for advancement, coaches look for general positional knowledge, reliable escape methods, and a sweep the student can continuously perform live in a match. The experience of the white belt is inherently awkward, as is learning anything new, whether a person who has never grappled before or a wrestler from college or high school. For instance, for the person who has never grappled before, the gi (a traditional thicker karate uniform) feels rough on the body, the belt is always falling off, or you have your opponent’s belt or gi smothering you. At the same time, you desperately try to remember the escape your coach taught earlier that week. Recently, I learned to snowboard at the age of thirty-five. Although I have an established base (the ability to find balance or stay balanced in motion), the jacket felt uncomfortable rubbing on my ear, and the goggles felt strange pressed on my brow; all the while, my instructor happily showed me how to stay on edge. For the first several years of snowboarding, I had to get accustomed to how the gear felt, and only recently have I had a new experience with the sport where the heavy snowboarding equipment felt weightless. Jiu-jitsu was the same in my experience as a white belt. What about the wrestler who comes to a jiu-jitsu school and has an established base? Their discomfort manifests itself in different ways. For example, telling a wrestler to play off their back from a guard position is similar to telling a surgeon that a butter knife will do just as good a job as a scalpel—it’s strange. Both the new person to grappling and the wrestler must commit to learning a new sport, overcome their discomforts, and begin participating in the sport in a way that produces results relative to their goals. It is critical to set appropriate goals as a white belt. Often this means maintaining a grip in a match or holding a guard for a minute or more. Suppose the expectation is to hit the technique as shown by the instructor as a brand new person. In that case, there will be a failure, frustration, and an inability to examine where the student has grown. The experience of seeing a white belt walk off the mat after training for several months and say, “I only got caught three times,” or on an even better day, “I only got mounted and didn’t give up the choke” is a more realistic approach to goal setting. I can’t help but think of one of our students who started training jiu-jitsu in his mid-forties walking off the mat beaming like a kid on Christmas, chest humbly proud, saying. “I didn’t get caught today.” With realistic expectations in place, the experience of the white belt, while arduous, is rewarding. It is not uncommon for new students to question whether or not they are improving. Most often, the new students see their improvement when another newer student signs up.
It is crucial to consider the things prohibitive to the white belt becoming promoted to the blue belt. One minor subjective factor is the camaraderie with fellow students and the community. While this is by no means a standard across the board, if a white belt is not a contributor to their community, whether helping a newer person with shared experiences or helping after class with the mats, for example, there may be a delay in a promotion. A more significant detrimental factor is the loss of focus. Often this happens by trying to access too much information in the beginning, and understandably so. In the last ten years, there has been an explosion in access to information about jiu-jitsu. Only instructional DVDs were available when I started training. It was also difficult to obtain copies of final matches for major tournaments. Currently, professionally produced channels are dedicated solely to the sport of jiu-jitsu. Not to mention websites like BJJ Fanatics, where one can access content from hundreds of jiu-jitsu instructors with massive qualifications. As a new person to jiu-jitsu, it is hard to imagine a starting point, and I think it is important to mention how to take this information piecemeal.
Most information will come from the white belt’s coaches and head instructor. I pay most attention to instructional programming but only in little bits at a time, or I have final matches on in the background. At the same time, I do other work, usually related to Sonoran. As an instructor, I also gain invaluable experience by watching the students at Sonoran roll. The most significant pitfall I see is when a new person comes in and tries highlight-reel moves from Instagram or Youtube only. For the new person, the foundational principles from the highlight-reel are unseen and inexperienced, leading to injury of self or others in the worst-case scenarios. Also, new people who are inexperienced with the sport will set themselves up for burnout and frustration if highlight reel moves become their definition. While this is not a typical case, it is a way in which new people leave the sport.
The white belt experience is demanding, exciting, rewarding, and sometimes confusing. The mental shift occurring on and off the mat is valuable in all areas. If a new white belt student demonstrates discipline and continues to be a student of the art, they can find themselves with a blue belt anywhere from one to three years. The new student must be able to perform fundamental escapes, have essential positional awareness, and sweep their opponents from a guard. If the student can set realistic goals in live matches, be helpful to their teammates and school, and incorporate outside learning, they will not only be on the way towards advancement to the blue belt but setting a foundation to practice the gentle art for the rest of their lives.