Originally Posted by
Cora Sek
I totally 110% agree with you on this. I've only been a BJJ dad for 3.5 yrs and I've seen so many kids come and go in this sport. I've seen many belt ranking systems. There are many factors involve when a kid quit BJJ, so anything that you can do to keep them interested in the sport is a good thing. Remember we are talking about kids. Ideally, yes one shouldn't strive for that belt promotion, that's if we are living in a perfect world. But the reality is this, kids will be kids and they do get distracted or bored. Some quit because they don't see the progression, some quit because they getting beat all the time in tournaments (because of different belt ranking system applied by different gyms). So there are many factors involved, but if you give a kid some short term goal such as that next belt promotion, maybe, just maybe he/she will stick around long enough to get good and realize this sport is actually for them. I mention his before, how I kept my daughter interested in this sport was we started with a "hit list". A list of all the kids that ever tapped her out or beat her. One by one, her short term goal is to catch up with those kids. Everyone of those kids represent a point system and all those points add up to rewards. The reward for her would be going to the movies or shopping...:) This works for awhile until she tapped out every kid in her gym or I go broke. The we make another list of the kids that has beaten her in tournaments. She knows that to catch up with these kids, she must train harder. And the prize will reflect accordingly. Adversely, if a kid beat her, points will be deducted from her total points accumulation. So in essence, she's been a prize fighter since she was 8...:) The belt system is just one way to keep the kids in the sport and to see where they are at among their peers.