Papa's got a brand new brag

Artwork by Erica

The terrible day has come that I no longer outrank my husband in Karate!  We started training at the same time, and we tested for Shodan together, but since I am older than he is, I have always technically been his senior.  Now I can't hold it over him anymore, because yesterday he tested for Nidan.  I did not test alongside him, because you actually have to know the requirements!  By the way, I'm only three years older, so I don't think I qualify as a cougar. Maybe a leopard, but I prefer tiger.

Shihan held a five and a half hour Karate workout yesterday, for black belts from the SRSK organization, during which he conducted Joe's test.  We had about twenty black belts from several different states, ranging from 1st to 10th dan, so it was a pretty intimidating environment to be tested in!  I only participated in part of the workout (because my sore knee dislikes kick drills!), but I'm still feeling it.  Joe passed his test with flying colors, despite me trying to hex him so that he would fail and not rise above me!

The workout was great, and one of the things I participated in was the drill where one person attacks and the other defends the whole time.  Shihan must have decided that only having one attacker was too easy for a tiger like me, so he had both Mike and Corrina attack me at the same time!  It got a little scary when Mike almost swept me (on the floor, not the mat!), but my awesome gi-gripping skills (which I've cultivated in Jiu-Jitsu) saved me.  As I was falling down, I was able to reach out and grab Mike's gi, then pull myself back up with it.  If I hadn't done that, I would have hit the floor, hard!  Luckily, I did not pull Mike down with me instead.  I swear I wasn't trying to get him in my guard!

I think it was appropriate that Joe left the black belt workout/testing a half hour early to teach the kid's class, because I believe all the time and energy he devotes to the Karate kids is part of the reason Shihan wanted to promote him.  A few years ago, Joe reluctantly took over the Friday class, and he ran with it.  He also saw the need for a youth class that was geared towards advanced ranks, so he started one on Sundays, and that was the class he left to teach yesterday.  He now has a great group of dedicated students.  They love Sensei Joe, and Shihan loves what Joe is teaching them.

I am proud of my husband, and he truly deserved this promotion.  I know I will never outrank him again, nor should I.  However I feel the need to remind him that this only applies when we are at the dojo, in Karate class. Other than that, I am still the senior!  

Purple

After Adam mistakingly thought I was a purple belt, I was contemplating when that dreaded day does come, and I realized that I will probably no longer be able to compete in Jiu-Jitsu.  I can only afford to do local tournaments, and there are almost no other blue belt women competing in Nebraska right now, let alone higher ranks.

The only competing purple belt woman that I am aware of is my teammate Sara, and she already knows she can beat me any day of the week, so I don't think she's interested in competing with me anymore.  Our women's Jiu-Jitsu teacher Amy is also a purple belt, but she doesn't compete.  Even if she did, I would not sign up for that!  I already know how it would go: Amy throws Gina and submits her in .05 seconds!  It's a new world record for complete and utter domination!

So yeah, my purple belt competition options appear limited, unless I'm allowed to fight men (which I'm not opposed to, it's what I do 99% of the time in class).  At one of our tournaments there were no other woman signed up, so I asked Amy if there were any smaller guys I could go against.  She said "Well, there's a 14 year-old boy, but he weighs more than you."  I do not want to fight boys!  I'm aware that fighting dudes would put me at a disadvantage, but I'm not as vested in winning as I am in learning.  However, I have been advised that it might not be safe for me, because the male ego is sometimes more willing to hurt a woman than to lose to her.  I even have to deal with that kind of problem during open mat, so I know it would be much worse in competition. At that tournament when there were no women to fight, I ended up doing a match with Martìnez, and he's my dojobro, so he beat me kindly.

I'm just speculating, who knows what will happen in the future.  Hopefully I won't be promoted to purple belt for a couple more years, and by then there will be lots of purples competing!  Perhaps I won't even be interested in competing anymore by then.  Maybe I will just pay the USJF fee and start competing in Judo instead.  I might even quit martial arts entirely, you just never know.

It's not easy being green

Adam & Jerad

At the beginning of Jiu-Jitsu class yesterday I was the senior student, so I bowed the class in. Then Adam (aka The Incredible Hulk) showed up, and he outranks me, so it was his job to do it at the end of class. When we lined up, Adam tried to stand to the left of me, and I thought it was because he didn't want to rei us out, I wasn't sure if he remembered the Japanese. So I told him that he was standing in the wrong place, but that I would rei the class out if he wanted me to. He looked confused, and he said "But we tested at the same time." I replied "Yeah, but you're a purple belt." Then he looked at my belt, and he seemed very surprised that it was blue. He said "I thought you were a purple belt, too!" Ahahaha! No, no I'm not. Adam then took his proper place in line and bowed us out.

I am flattered that Adam was astonished that I am not a purple belt, but what the hell does he know? Just kidding, he knows a lot! I think he was just surprised that he outranks me, but he shouldn't be. Apparently he also does not pay much attention to who's standing next to him in line! Adam is a man of few words, and yesterday when I told him I would be happy being a blue belt forever, he didn't need any words to convey how he felt about that, the look he gave me said it all. If I had to give the look a voice, it would say "Don't make me angry, you wouldn't like me when I'm angry!" ;)

"It's not easy being green, it seems you blend in with so many other ordinary things.
But green's the color of spring, and green can be cool and friendly-like..." -Kermit the Frog

The Unwritten Law

After my belt etiquette post, one of the Jiu-Jitsu students said that he thought he knew all the belt rules, but he had never heard "Don't carry your belt around your neck."  I think that's because not all of the rules are written.  That particular etiquette was an unwritten one that I chose to write down, because it is a pet peeve of Shihan's.  The student asked the purpose of the rule, and I said "Well, if you have your belt around your neck and Shihan sees you, there's a good chance he will break the rule about not choking people with belts."  Shihan just doesn't understand why someone would voluntarily put a noose around their own neck (and the same rule applies to nunchaku).  A Judo Sensei said "So, you have a collar around your neck, and I can choke you with that, too."  True, but only a trained person can usually do that, while any idiot can choke someone with a belt.  A collar has to be around your neck, but a belt doesn't.

An additional reason for this rule is that generally if you are not wearing your belt, then you should not be displaying it.  You are also not supposed to toss your belt over your shoulder, or carry it dangling in your hand.  Technically, it should be folded up and tucked discreetly under your arm (or inside your gi).  If you carry your gi with the belt tied around it, and it's not in a bag, then you should also tuck the gi under your arm, so that the belt is not displayed.  Showing your belt in any manner except while wearing it to train, compete, teach, or demo your art is considered bad etiquette.

There are even more unwritten belt rules that I didn't mention...if you have to fix or remove your belt, turn away from your partner and/or the class (unless you are in a competition-never turn your back to your opponent-and don't fix your belt or gi unless told to by the ref)...do not ask a black belt what dan rank they are...don't touch someone's belt without permission (except in the course of training)...etc...etc.

In the following video I broke etiquette at the beginning when I let my belt touch the floor, and at the end when I turned my back to Shihan (I was supposed to just walk backward).  They still let me keep my black belt!

I am a blue belt

Sara, Conan, Gina

After about a year and a half of training Jiu-Jitsu, I received my blue belt, and I've now had it for about a year and a half.  For the first time since I put it on, I finally feel as though I deserve to wear it.  I don't just have a blue belt anymore, now I am one.

Conan promised that our blue belts had magical powers, but up until recently I was pretty sure mine was defective, or that my own black magic mojo was someone interfering with the awesome goodness of my belt.  Perhaps the problem was that I didn't really believe in the belt's magic, so it was kept hidden from me.

I'm not sure how I managed to start tapping into my blue belt's magical potential, but now when I grapple, I can feel the magic working.  My belt and I have finally joined forces, and our mission is to make all the Muggles who want to fight us submit to our will.

"You may lose faith in your magical belt. This happens from time to time, but know this. The belt will never lose faith in you. Those who stick with it and experience the rebirth of the powers locked deep inside the blue belt, they will have the most wonderful gifts bestowed upon them."

Beltiquette

Last Friday my husband went to open mat with me, then afterward he changed into his karate gi to teach the kid's class, and I was leaving the dojo.  When he tried to give me a kiss goodbye, I told him "No PDA while wearing your belt".  You never saw a man take a belt off so fast!

I was really just giving Joe a hard time, because he is "The Etiquette Police", and he likes to remind me of what a sorry excuse for a martial artist I am when I have occasional lapses in etiquette memory.  Shihan was standing there when this incident happened, and he said if there was such an etiquette, then he was in big trouble!

We do have a few belt rules in our dojo, but I guess tasteful displays of affection are acceptable.  However, if you asked the students from the kid's class, they might disagree.  I have a feeling they would probably think it was icky, belt or not!

Roseberry's Sho-Rei-Shobu-Kan belt etiquette:

Never let your belt touch the floor.
Never throw your belt.
Never slap or choke other students with your belt.
Do not carry your belt around your neck.
Do not wash your belt.
Do not wear your belt outside of the dojo. 
Remove your belt before eating, cleaning, etc.

(Obviously the first one doesn't apply to when your belt touches the floor while training, and I'm not sure what "etc" is, but I thought it was "kissing" ;)

"Etiquette means behaving yourself a little better than is absolutely essential." -Will Cuppy

Priceless

John Roseberry-Shihan started Sho-Rei-Shobu-Kan in 1971, and we now have affiliate schools in at least seven different states and two foreign countries. All organization students who test for black belt in Karate do so at Hombu Dojo here in Lincoln, under the authority of Shihan. Over the past forty years, from all these different schools across the world, Shihan has only awarded about three-hundred Shodan certificates (mine is #287). That works out to around seven a year. It seems as though some other places give out that many in a month, at one single school.

Roseberry's is not a black belt factory, we don't sell our belts. If you're just interested in buying one, Sensei Dave said he will sell you one for seven dollars and then you can go away and stop wasting his time (but it doesn't come with authentication). My family and I are the most recent people from Hombu Dojo to achieve Shodan in Karate. That was in 2009, and it will probably be another year or two before anyone else from Lincoln tests for black belt. At eighteen, I believe my daughter is currently the second-youngest person in the entire organization to hold the rank of Shodan in Karate.

I've heard it said that the difference between our blacks belts and some "other" black belts is that if you lined up ten of each, only one of theirs would actually be able to fight, and only one of ours wouldn't ;) All I know is that when it comes to collectibles, the lower the number you have, the more valuable it is. As far as I'm concerned, #287 is priceless.

Happy Blues

I heard some dojo news yesterday that makes me very happy. Our Jiu-Jitsu class belt timeline has always been closer to TJJ than BJJ, which means that our testing is somewhat accelerated in comparison to BJJ belts. Therefore, I was supposed to be up to test for my purple belt in Jiu-Jitsu after only about two and a half years of training.

As I've been reading BJJ blogs and watching videos, there's been no doubt in my mind that I am not on a comparable level with a BJJ purple belt. I actually think I might not even quite be considered a blue belt yet by some, based on my knowledge and time in. Since I compete in BJJ tournaments, as a purple belt I would be considered an "advanced" competitor. Ha. Ha. Ha. I am not being self-derogatory, just honest, when I say that I am not at that level yet.

The good news is that our school has now decided to slow down our testing schedule, and adjust our belts so that the requirements and timeline are closer to BJJ. They are putting a temporary hold on testing for most of the blues and purples. Since our hybrid system has always more closely resembled BJJ than TJJ in practice, this just seems to make sense.

Some people may be upset about having to wait to test, but I am ecstatic! I felt like I would be misrepresenting my actual level by telling BJJ people that I was a purple belt without adding the clause "but it's not as good as your purple!" ;) My happiness might also have a little bit to do with the fact that I would gladly go back to being a white belt if they would let me. Whenever my test for purple finally does come around, I'm probably still going to try to talk them into letting me test for blue again instead. I feel like I could really ace it this time around!

#800080

“This donut has purple in the middle, purple is a fruit.” -Homer

Purple is stalking me...

Purple knees: Perpetually bruised.

Purple elbow: Popped at the exact same time I was tapping.

Purple ear: Folded over and gashed.

Purple toe: The little piggy that stayed home got crushed.

Purple belt: Looming ominously in my not too distant future.

I don't like purple, nothing purple is ever good! Purple Koolaid, yucky! Purple People Eater, bad! Purple Heart, injury or death! Barney...I rest my case!

Why can't I just keep the belt colors I already have? Black and Blue...they really suit me!


"Roses are red, violets are blue"...even violets don't want to be purple!

Chase the Rainbow

Because I started training jiu-jitsu around the same time that I received my karate black belt, I'm afraid that some people might think I'm a "belt-chaser". It may appear that I started something else just so I could get another black belt. If that was the case, I would have chosen something much easier than jiu-jitsu! It will probably take at least another eight years for me to get to black (and by that time I'll be around fifty years old).

For me it's never been about the belt, I've never even wanted any belt I've ever received. I have tried to give my black belt back a few times since I've gotten it. The truth is, I prefer being a student to being an instructor. Instead of chasing the belt rainbow, I want to flee from it. So I suppose part of my issue with focusing so much on jiu-jitsu lately (instead of karate) is my discomfort with how I feel my black belt is perceived. In karate I stand with people who have been training for over twenty years, yet new people only see that I wear the same belt as the seniors. I feel like I am compared to them (and I come up short). Shihan says "A black belt is a black belt, and all should be treated with the same respect", but that doesn't mean they all have equal knowledge and skill.

Just as the belt-chasers think that having a certain color belt will change people's perceptions of them, so do I, but in the opposite way. They feel like the color of their belt validates them in some way, and I feel like it causes me to be judged more harshly. When I put on a new belt, I am still the same person as I was before, yet I am looked at differently. In my own mind I don't want it to matter what belt I wear, but it does.

Not wanting a belt is actually a reflection of fear. It's an unwillingness to accept the responsibilities and expectations that come along with it. If I had been allowed to not move up in rank like I wanted to, I would be much farther behind in my training and growth, because it would have allowed me to stay in my comfort zone. So now when I am awarded a new belt, I realize that learning to handle wearing it is a big part of my training. It is yet another challenge that I must overcome. To believe that I deserve it (and I can prove it), I have to work more, try harder, and learn things I might not have if I was allowed to remain stagnant.

If all you're after is the pot of gold, you will probably be disappointed in the end. It's not okay to just chase belts, but you can't run away from them either.

I am a Shodan

Someone recently told me that I should "know my place" in the dojo. I think I do know my place- I am a shodan. It doesn't matter what class I am in, or what belt I am wearing, that is my place in the dojo, and that is how I am expected to carry myself. Ray Peterson-Sensei said it best one day in jiu-jitsu class when he told me "Just because you're not wearing a black belt in this class doesn't mean you're still not supposed to act like one." So, what does being a shodan mean? Wikipedia says "Shodan, literally meaning "beginning degree," is the lowest black belt rank in Japanese martial arts."

Dave Ossian-Sensei has said that shodan is the worst rank to be. You're not a real black belt, and you're certainly not a sensei (that usually doesn't come until sandan). Every colored belt is gunning for you, because you're the easiest black belt to take out. You have the most to prove, and you get the least respect. You are essentially a martial arts baby. The senior udanja do not yet consider you to be a member of their group, because you are not. All that you've really proven so far is that you know how to learn and you're willing to do so.

I am a shodan...I take out the garbage and clean the dojo. I don't get invited to all the secret black belt conferences. I have no say in dojo decisions. I am expected to know and uphold the dojo rules, and be an example to my sempai. I am supposed to help teach others the ways of my arts and etiquettes to the best of my ability. I should represent the teachings of Sho-Rei-Shobu-Kan at all times, both inside the dojo and out of it.

Having a black belt doesn't mean anything if you don't act like one. I have walked up the front steps and they have opened the door for me. Now it's up to me to walk through it.