One of the best things about being a blue belt, is that you are no longer white belt. It’s great. You have been recognized for your progress, and your commitment. You have been visually marked as being ahead of the class. But now you have some responsibility on your hands.
Your job is to contribute to the cause. You don’t have to play coach, but you are now a source of experience white belts will be looking to. Your experience now gives you some insight. You will recognize bad training, bad habits, and bad technique. You have been welcomed to help these students grow when you were leveled up.
Let's be clear - these aren’t white belt problems. This is white belt life. Helping these students is the fun part. White belt problems are the new students who don’t understand the mission. They don’t understand the culture. They don’t understand how to train safely and respect their training partners. Luckily, this is a small percentage of the new flock. But these students exist and must be addressed.
Out: The Gym Enforcer
The Gym Enforcer is the old model of regulating the spazzy and uncontrolled student. The higher level belt would demolish the brand new martial artist. I’m not quite sure what the intent of this was, but this was the way. Maybe to humble them. Maybe to strike fear in their eyes. What this model does is reinforce poor training behavior. If the point is to learn to train safely, and the naïve and unaware spazzy white belt is getting smashed by all the higher level belts, then this is what they model. Winning is about doing what they are doing, just doing it better.
In: The Culture Enforcer
When a new student needs to be corrected, they need to be told what they are doing wrong and why. “You are trying to pass my guard without Jiu Jitsu. You are trying to explode out of positions without thinking them through. You are not trying to use Jiu Jitsu.” This is the language needed to communicate to people what their goals are. When new students try to use their athleticism to accomplish goals, it's because they don’t know any better. They need to be guided.
There is a way to communicate this physically, that doesn’t reinforce bad training habits. Playing a defensive game and shutting down aggressive movement tends to make these students very frustrated. They are expending lots of energy and making zero progress. Two to three minutes into this, they will usually pause and you know the frustration has set in. You have just shown them that Jiu Jitsu beats their athleticism. This is your moment to tell them if they want to be successful they need to stop relying on their athleticism and focus on learning Jiu Jitsu.
Culture enforcement of course extends beyond the spazzy white belt. Is there someone speaking poorly about your teammates? Does someone make the females in the room uncomfortable? You have been empowered to address this, and have a responsibility to your teammates to do so. Of course, poor behavior is not unique to white belts, but in a gym with strong culture enforcers, poor behavior will never make it to blue.
This model builds leadership. Your blue belt is a building block towards your own leadership position within your team. Rank isn’t about hierarchy. It's about responsibility. Your skills and knowledge are power that must be used for good.
When in doubt, your coach needs to know. The coach is ultimately responsible for creating a safe environment in the room, but it's a big job. As a coach, I rely on my team to be my eyes and ears, and sometimes my voice. What we build, we build together, and together can’t be jeopardized.