___Terra Firma Jiu-Jitsu___: White Belt Got You Down?

By: Hiram "Tortuga" Navarrete

I recently read an article concerning promotion amongst purple belts, and the trials and tribulations they will face getting past a slump many get on there way to that coveted color brown. Many feel overwhelmed with the new found rank, as the article points out, and the feeling of one's game plateauing over time becomes evident. (note: I will post the link to the website where these articles can be found). But thinking back to the message this article portrays makes me believe that the purple belt blues can hit some people much much earlier. Hence my title. I'm currently a white belt, and I have been training for a little over 7 months. On average that's not a long time by any stretch of the imagination, and yet there are some that may get impatient on there trip through the smooth art (yes a high level white belt such as my self being one of them). A couple of bad training days, chock full of sloppy technique can make you feel like your your game is regressing. In case your like me and don't know the EXACT definition of "regressing" here it is! [ movement backward to a previous and especially worse or more primitive state or condition] (Yup sounds about right). Everyone goes through this, no matter how high a level they are. These feelings will come and go throughout your grappling career. But what's important is that you stick with it. There will be days when you just don't want to get out of bed, believe me I've had plenty, but what you have to ask yourself, is the juice worth the squeeze? The day you realize that all that training, all the preparation, all the blood, sweat, and tears that you have literally shed on the mat wasn't just to earn a piece of colored cloth, wasn't for a belt. But for the improvement of you as a grappler and as a person. Every great practitioner that now wears his black belt once wore the white. We all start on bottom and we never stop learning. In jiu jitsu as is in life theres always a time to take that chance, and to find that opening for success. We can all reverse our position and end up on top. So no matter what you do, no matter how hard, or frustrating, or impossible something may seem. Know that it can be done. The key to success is to keep moving forward. When the world takes you down you regain your guard and slap on that triangle. When it feels like the world is slipping out of of your control, you transition into an armbar and crank till you can't crank no more! If you can keep moving, flowing, and reacting then your sure to find your light at the end of the tunnel. Just whatever you do, don't tap out to the woes of the white belt.