Advice in the Ranks- From White to Black

by Samantha Schell

I’m coming up on 11 years in the sport of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, and over the course of that time frame, from fighting professionally in MMA, competing in Jiu-Jitsu all over the country, and even being an academy over, I have learned countless things. Some of them were hard lessons, some were good learning opportunities, and many were easily avoidable. The least I can do is try and pass on any nugget of knowledge that I can.

White belt tears

When I was brand new to the sport, I constantly felt quite overwhelmed with the influx of all of the new information I was being inundated with. Although I spent many years as an athlete in my youth, this was an entirely different playing field. I am small, and a woman, and as a white belt, a floundering mess. Everything felt unfamiliar and difficult, and no matter how much I showed up to class, I never felt as if I was getting any better.

Every time we got ready to roll at the end of class, I always felt like I was wasting the other person’s time who would get paired up with me. I spent almost every single roll suffocating under someone else’s body weight and tapping incessantly. What I didn’t realize, was that I had absolutely every right to take up space on those mats and that my journey was just as valid as the next person’s. I was getting minutely better every day, though I didn’t realize it. Those helping me were not having their time wasted, as it
is invaluable the knowledge you gain by helping and teaching others.

Blue belt blues

Then I became a blue belt, and I learned I didn’t know as much as I thought I did. It was probably my most humbling belt; here I was awarded a blue belt, signifying I was learning Jiu-Jitsu and that white belts were beneath me. Ha. Just kidding. Blue belt is where you must either let your ego die in order for you to grow and learn, or else you stagnate your Jiu-Jitsu journey and end up quitting as the blue belt trope goes.

Advanced blue belts are often tasked with more assisting teaching opportunities as well. I learned that until you hit 3 stripes on that blue belt, you’re pretty much a 5-striped white belt. It’s called ‘blue belt blues’ for a reason, and it’s the level where you overcome some difficult mental hurdles. Just because you’ve earned that new rank doesn’t mean you’re going to automatically always beat the white belts. If white belt was about survival, blue belt is where you start gravitating toward your preferential moves.

“It all goes by in the blink of an eye. One day, you’re feeling self-conscious when learning how to shrimp, and the next day people revere you as they call you Professor.”
Samantha Schell

Purple belt magic

Then you start becoming challenging to even upper belt practitioners, and before you know it, you’re awarded your purple belt. Almost everyone says it’s their favorite belt, and not just because everything looks better in purple. You fine-tune your game at purple belt, and start getting the upper hand on lots more people than you ever thought was possible. You start seeing clips and videos of techniques and actually comprehend and understand the mechanics behind it simply by viewing film.

Purple belts starts becoming known for their prowess and athletic abilities. Your body begins to move in ways cohesive to your growing abilities, and people begin to associate you with certain Jiu-Jitsu moves and submissions. Purple belt is where I began to feel more comfortable dropping into other gyms when I was out of town, and also the belt where I was able to start occasionally catching black belts, but still occasionally getting caught by blue belts. I definitely found the most growth in my journey at this rank.

Brown belt confidence

Of course finally when you feel good at purple belt, a brown belt gets tossed your way. If you’ve managed to avoid the stereotypes of the always injured brown belt, this becomes the belt where all of the finesse you’ve obtained at purple belt when it comes to playing your game truly shines. Now you are able to start shutting down other people’s games in order to progress to yours more fluidly. You’re also astutely aware of the encroaching black belt promotion in your near future.

Black belt mastery

Then before you know it, you’ve achieved the rank of black belt and everything starts over yet again. The fancy moves you drilled incessantly at blue, purple, and even brown begin to take a back seat to the tried and true simplistic and efficient moves at black belt. Moves you saw and drilled at white belt, but now, infinitely better. And once you’ve reached this level, you discover that belts are just a piece of cloth tied around your waist to help keep the gi closed.

It all goes by in the blink of an eye. One day, you’re feeling self-conscious when learning how to shrimp, and the next day people revere you as they call you Professor. All those days pondering over why other people were getting promoted around you simply don’t matter any more. In fact, all that ever did was hold you back and impede your growth as comparison is the thief of all joy. No matter what your journey looked like to reach here, or no matter how long it took, you deserve every bit of that success. The
blood, sweat, and tears have been more than worth it in the end.

Samantha Schell

The “Wolf Queen” is a BJJ black belt under team Rubao Carioca at Schell Shock BJJ in Fuquay Varina, NC. She’s a professional atomweight MMA figher and writes a weekly blog: WolfQueenMMA.com. In her spare time she enjoys cooking and baking. Reach her via DM on Instagram: @wolfqueenmma