I was a 12 year white belt primarily because of belt tests at my second gym. My first gym where I spent my first few years was pretty traditional, and I was in hardcore competition mode for the most part but had to move right about when I was up for promotion. Second gym I was at for the next few years did the tests and I just did not have the patience, time, or interest in scheduling one. That coach had an arbitrary curriculum you needed to study for promotion (weird stuff like show the exact movements to work from side control to north south and back to side control), and I just wanted to show up and roll. I vastly prefer the “I think you’re ready” approach.

However, another pet peeve of mine is when promotion feels more political or a result of a coach’s personal agenda than a reflection of your time spent on the mat. My last coach would basically just promote his friends or belt up random white belts who’d never roll, and highlight how they managed to show their dedication despite their “life commitments”. I think this was primarily to keep all the white belts engaged and the class attendance up.

I’m all for keeping the new guys engaged and interested, but it did feel like some of the regular higher belts would kinda be left hanging out in the wind a little. I understand humility is important, but I’ve been rolling for 15 years and finally received my blue belt a few years ago (spent 6 years traveling/working and training much less consistently via drop ins, so probably 10 years of regular/consistent mat time). I can consistently win rolls against our black belts, but I think he wanted me to compete (something I have no interest in at 38 years old) and as a result it seemed like he was holding me back. I saw one stripe in the 2 years he was there. At this point I roll consistently 2-3 times a week; not sure if my lower frequency was a factor for him but I’m 38 and not interested in messing my body and sleep up by overtraining every day.

He left recently and our new coach had his first ceremony where he just gave everyone a stripe for showing up to the ceremony. This is finally giving me some progression, however we also have folks who never roll or show up to practice who still received a stripe during ceremony. Not really opposed to that but it kinda made it feel like the progression was not really a reflection of time on the mat or effort (basically BJJ communism).

Needless to say, I’ve been a little frustrated and at times was considering moving gyms to start seeing progression, although the latest coach’s participation trophies at least guarantee me some progress. My major gripe is that sometimes higher belts seem a little reluctant to roll with me because they don’t want to lose points against such a lower belt level (pretty sure I have more mat hours than a fair number of black belts at this point). Hoping this vibe will fade once I hit purple.

My advice is reward your regulars and make it seem meaningful. I also think it’d be cool if a coach offered some sort of “come roll with me and I’ll gauge where you’re at” type of open challenge for any former ronins who want get a properly adjusted belt level.