BJJ Belts awarding systems

If you or your kid is learning Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, it would be good for you to know about the Jiu Jitsu belts ranking. It is a matter of respect if you earn the higher ranked belt in the martial art of Jiu Jitsu. When a person is learning BJJ martial arts, the school awards them with different kinds of belts that indicate their rank in the school. The martial arts require a lot of energy and dedication and if no encouragement is given to them, it becomes de-motivating for them to carry on their progress.

At present, there are four kinds of BJJ belts that are awarded to the kids learning the sport. These are:

• White
• Yellow
• Orange
• Green

This system is particularly followed in the kids’ league. Till the kid reaches the age of 16 years, he will be ranked under this system after which he will enter the adult belt system. Unlike other courses, there is no syllabus prescribed as such to obtain a belt as far as the technique involved in the Brazilian Jiu Jitsu martial art is concerned. It depends upon the evaluation of your performance by your trainer who will decide to graduate you to the next level. When the trainer is satisfied with the performance of the kid, he can decide to award the next belt to him and the kid will then undertake the next level of learning the sport. For the adult belt system, the color code of the BJJ belts goes like this:

• White
• Blue
• Purple
• Brown
• Black

The next level of the sport is obviously tougher than the previous one, though it might not appear so in the beginning. There are many BJJ and martial arts experts who have acquired their highest degree of martial arts that is the black belt after a long practice of twelve or more years. The best thing about this sport is that when you get graduated to the next level and get your new belt, you are sure of the fact that your trainer is completely satisfied with your performance and he wants you to take up the next level of training.

Another system for awarding belts to the student is to award strips of the next belt color after regular intervals to keep him motivated and informed about his progress. Various martial art schools have their own way of awarding the next belt to the student. For wearing these strips, there will be a sleeve attached at one end of the belt. It can be either black or red. The strips are tied to the belt with the help of these sleeves. It also determines the authenticity of the belt because if this sleeve is absent, this indicates that the belt is not original. Five such strips are given to the student while he is on the lower level and the sixth strip will mean the next belt. Now it depends upon your school which style of awarding belts it prefers.