Busy weekend (as the fact that I’m posting this on Thursday shows). On Sunday morning I went to a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu seminar. 3.5 hours of wearing pyjamas and trying to strangle people and bend their limbs the wrong way. At the end people were awarded stripes and belts by Victor Estima, our head instructor. I was one of them:
The BJJ grading structure goes white -> blue -> purple -> brown -> black -> red with 4 stripes in between and I got my blue belt. There’s no set criteria for getting a belt in BJJ: they look at things like progress, technique and how you get on with people. I was trying hard to do what I could and I think the main stand out bits were taking the time to show a beginner the correct way to tie his belt at the start of the seminar, and later during sparring tapping out (beating) a purple belt via a particularly technical submission called a clock choke. You don’t expect belts and at the end a few people got blues and purples but not me. I was thinking “Fair enough. Maybe I need to work on a few things”. Then we stood up and someone said “Actually, there is someone else who’s worked hard. Marcus, step forwards.” Just over 2 years since I started in this game with virtually no experience and the incredibly tedious affliction of Dyspraxia which affects balance, coordination and spacial awareness.
After the seminar there’s a belt whipping ceremony where everyone who’s been promoted gets whipped on the back:
It stings a bit but it’s not too bad. I’ve done it to other people but now it was my turn. Afterwards my back looked like this (behind the cut):
Not a bad weekend’s work.
On the hitting and kicking side of things my next fight will be a Thai boxing interclub on the 8th of May. I said I was hoping to fight in some form or another in May. Bit short notice (I found out yesterday) but if you train as if you might have a fight in the next week or so anyway it makes it easier when you do.