Sometimes when you show up to the mat you are trying to grasp so much it’s hard to get everything to stick. It’s a lot like swimming in the ocean. While you’re getting thrashed around by big waves you’re basically just trying to stay afloat and avoid drowning. For a while you think the feeling is localized in your own psyche. But everyone has felt that and likely still does.
As a beginning White Belt your ABSOLUTE sole purpose and main priority should be learning to survive. If you’re flailing your arms around like your trying to scare kids on Halloween, they are more susceptible to attack. Therefore you should always keep them tight. You should always keep your opponents hands off of your collar to avoid chokes. Focus heavily on having good posture and having good base. Your primary objective as a White Belt is to stay alive and make it as difficult as possible for your opponent to attack you. Mastering defense is what it means to be a White Belt. With this type of mental shift you will save yourself a lot of time trying to figure out how to “Win”.
As a Blue Belt you should be very adept at keeping your appendages attached to their proper joints and your blood consistently flowing to your brain without being shut off by nasty chokes. At this stage your goal will shift from defense to escapes. You want to be as slippery as a pig in a pigpen during a rain storm. A Blue Belts game should consist of perfecting your escapes and transitions. It should be increasingly difficult to even hold you in a position let alone attempt to attack you from one. During this period you can afford to move a lot more due to your increased body awareness and defensive skills that were honed during your time as a White Belt. If you find yourself in a less than savory position then you should already be proficient in “Staying Safe”; and equally as proficient in being patient and waiting for an opportunity to move to a superior position.
Now as a Purple Belt things shift more towards the guard. Pulling Guard and maintaining the Guard. Since the majority of your attacks will be from the Guard this should be your focus. Purple Belts should be efficient at avoiding attacks by utilizing great defense and being agile on the mat. Escaping and transitioning through and from various positions. Now is the time to focus on escaping and pulling Guard then maintaining the Guard. You will also be starting to develop your own game a bit during this stage. This development will progress mostly from increasing your skill level in the Guard.
Now as a Brown Belt you have a solid defensive game, vibrant escapes, and a dynamic Guard. But so does every other Brown Belt. Now is the time to work on passing the dozens of guards out there. You can’t work your game; if you’re constantly stuck in someone else’s Guard. And everyone knows it’s a pain trying to pass a really good Guard. This is also the stage where you are not only refining your own game, but refining others game also. Fine tuning your abilities to instruct others and point out the proper way to perform a technique on various body types will be the key to making the jump to the next level.
Your been through fire and hell, long hot, roasting days on the mat, years of being flipped, swept, choked, locked, chewed up and spit out. And now FINALLY you have arrived. It’s almost impossible to attack you; you’re always moving around and escaping. Your opponents throw tantrums on the mat because they can’t hold you in a position for more than a second. And even if they manage to get you in the Guard you pass with ease like Peyton Manning against a High School football team.
At the rank of Black Belt you have a deeper understanding of leverage, timing, weight distribution, and the combination of what I like to call the Jiu Jitsu Sixth Sense which is sensation and reaction (You’re basically a Jedi on the mat).
Now it’s time to finish. It’s time to attack and finish attacks from all the positions you have become ever so comfortable with. Now when you grab a hold of something, you take it home with you! That arm is now your arm. His joints respond the way you want them to. He is but a helpless crash dummy coming along for the ride. You dictate the pace, and you are now in control.
As a Black Belt it’s all about finishing and fine tuning. Insuring that not only can you drive the ball 90 yards, you can score at will. Everything you have learned over the past years has been stripped down to its simplest form. You act instinctively to your opponent, relentlessly adapting to your environment. Like the great Bruce Lee often said you don’t even have to think, it just does it all on its own.
Many Black Belts often refer to themselves as a White Belt that never quits. It is important to remember that even at the Black Belt level you still feel like a White Belt. There is still so much to learn.
It’s a long Journey for us all. Never quit and eventually we all can get there.
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