Black Belt Responsibility: Teaching, Leadership, and Continued Growth

A black belt in Brazilian Jiu-jitsu is a difficult thing to achieve. It generally takes on average 10 years, unless of course you happen to be a "Financial Influencer”. It took me 15 years to get my black belt, I like to say I took the scenic route. Once you become a black belt, well what then? What do you do after you are a black belt?

As a black belt, for most people, your role in the gym will become different. Even if you are not the head instructor or if you don’t even teach classes at all. People’s perception of you and your skills will be altered just by the belt you wear. People will see a black belt, and because hierarchies are so ingrained in our social strata (I am writing this from the perspective of an American) that they automatically grant authority to the person wearing that belt. However just because you have the belt doesn’t mean you have power over people. In fact more than authority, a black belt confers  responsibility on you to be a good steward for the next generation of grapplers. Not every black belt will want to be an instructor or a leader, but that doesn’t stop others looking at them as such. Because of this as a black belt it is important to be a responsible member of the community. 

One of the biggest things a lot of black belts run into once they get their belt is teaching. Many people get their black belt and either start teaching classes or get roped into teaching classes without a lot of experience teaching. The problem with this is that teaching just like grappling is a skill. Skill at grappling does not translate to skill at teaching. I was fortunate because when I was coming up, I got to teach classes, but my instructor would be there and after the class ended he would give me feedback to make me a better teacher. Most people do not have this luxury, and will struggle with teaching and that is ok, for those people they will eventually find their own teaching style, or if they do not want to teach. I know a lot of people have dreams of opening their own gym after they get a black belt, and a lot of them suffer or are not successful because while they have the grappling skill, they lack in the teaching skillset (as well as the other business aspects). Being an instructor can be difficult; work with people to improve the skill. 

One of the harder things that people do not think about after they get their black belt is their own continued improvement. In the one to two years after I got my black belt, I gained almost 50 pounds because while I was still training, I didn’t have to work as hard when I grappled, and my training was a lot less focused because I was more often teaching and not participating in class. I was not getting as much exercise and I definitely stalled out on my growth and progress for a while after I got my black belt. One of the things that helped me was beginning to be more intentional about my training. Because I had much more limited time to work on my own grappling, I had to be very conscious of what I was working on and how I used my time on the mat. I began to do deep dives on various moves that interested me, and worked hard to improve. I still haven’t lost a lot of that weight, but that is for sure not just because I am getting older. 

Finally the most important thing I think for a black belt is to be a good citizen, because as I mentioned before, people will grant you authority based solely on the belt that you wear. There are plenty of stories of black belts out there that took advantage of their belt to do some absolutely heinous things. As a black belt, we often have more power or control over people we train with, it is up to us to not abuse the trust they put in us. Additionally, people view black belts as leaders automatically, so if you are a black belt and are out here making jokes at others expense then others will key off of that and your gym will rapidly become a place that is not safe for everyone to train. 

Being a black belt can be a very difficult endeavor, but it is also great because you get to help so many different people that walk through the doors of the gym. As a black belt we must continue to work to make Jiu-jitsu a safe, and welcoming place for anyone who wants to train.