David Jacobs' BJJGround Which of you sued instructor for no purple belt?

From mma.tv "news" page:

The name of the instructor is Marcos Roldão from the city of Porto Alegre. His academy is 'Samuray Jiu Jitsu'.

The exact allegations of the student are:

– He arrived at his new academy being a blue belt 4 stripes, but the teacher told him to remove the stripes and just train and not be concerned about that.

-Every 2,3 months occurs some kind of "promotion event where students gets the stripes or new belts."
As soon as he started the training he asked his teacher if he would take the purple belt in the next one, because if not, he wouldn't participate...
During the promotion ceremony, the students who are supposed to participate must pay one value of R$70 (seventy reais) -around 15 euros.

– In this first promotion in which he thought that would receive his purple belt, he got just one stripe.

-After that he spoke with his teacher next day, and said that he was promised that he would receive his purple belt at the next promotion event.

-However, what happened in the following event was him getting 2 more stripes.

And beside of that, he mentioned(in process)
That the teacher mocked him in front of class how he was being annoying, always asking about the belt.

The instructor showed up court wearing a purple shirt.

https://www.bjjee.com/articles/student-sues-bjj-instructor-for-not-promoting-him-to-purple-belt/?fbclid=IwAR0EnlHuTmm1TCOvpaJoDKJuh8rMj9LYRCJaUyWHV8GJB7vygYhTyL9v1BQ

This cannot be real ...

We once brought up a 3 stripe Blue Belt and gave him his 4th stripe on his Blue Belt. As a student, he was OK, he kinda muscled everything and was sort of inconsistent.

When he saw the stripe tape, he blurted out, "SERIOUSLY...?!?!"

He really thought he deserved his Purple Belt.

Quit a couple weeks later.

I got promoted to purple belt a few months ago. My first reaction was this can't be right. I was a two stripe blue belt and never did I think I should been promoted to this rank. Been doing bjj since 2014 and was three years a white belt until I got promoted to blue. I did my best competing and never stopped training good days or bad.

The article also says the instructor was making fun of his student. Something is off here.

shen - We once brought up a 3 stripe Blue Belt and gave him his 4th stripe on his Blue Belt. As a student, he was OK, he kinda muscled everything and was sort of inconsistent.

When he saw the stripe tape, he blurted out, "SERIOUSLY...?!?!"

He really thought he deserved his Purple Belt.

Quit a couple weeks later.

Lol, guys like that should keep getting stripes.  Screw the 4 stripe limit.  They deserve to be 10 stripe blue belts.

i think i get my 10th blue belt strip this april...sigh...

shen - We once brought up a 3 stripe Blue Belt and gave him his 4th stripe on his Blue Belt. As a student, he was OK, he kinda muscled everything and was sort of inconsistent.

When he saw the stripe tape, he blurted out, "SERIOUSLY...?!?!"

He really thought he deserved his Purple Belt.

Quit a couple weeks later.

Lol, I remember when I was a 4 stripe white but a couple stripes had fallen off. My instructor was notorious for being inconsistent with stripes, one here, 2 after 2 years, none for a year, then a belt promotion. He called me up and I reminded him that he already gave me my 4 stripes a while back. He proceeded to put the remaining stripes on my belt and I thought it was just a courtesy to show my actual rank while he was giving out stripes so I went to go back to the line. As I went to walk away he called me and then he busted out the blue belt and a big smile.

I was pretty stoked and it seemed pretty surreal to get promoted after like 4 or 5 inconsistent years at white.

If I wouldve tried to demand a belt from my original instructor (miguel torres) he would completely best my ass from wall to wall, with commentary for the academy to hear, then told no. Now my current instructor would say if you were better you would get what you deserve and then walk away. 

The incredible thing about bjj is everyone gets the same damn class...white belt, blue belt, etc...the class is the same!  What are you missing out on if you don't have darker shade of belt?  There are no secret purple belt techniques, no special bjj katas....you get your belt when your coach decides you deserve it.  If you have hurt feelings, maybe this is not the martial art you are looking for?

I've always had a love hate relationship with belts in BJJ. I do understand belts can serve as inspiration and motivation. Belts also can represent time and effort invested in this great martial art.

BUT the reality is... belts are SYMBOLIC... they represent something BUT beyond that they don't mean much... One could live without the belts in BJJ.

My personal experience has been the longer one participates in BJJ (in terms of YEARS) the less one cares about belts. I've been practicing Bjj for almost 15 years. I am currently a brown belt. I seriously don't care much about getting my black belt. Truth be told, I don't know if being promoted to black belt would make that much difference in my skill-set/ability. I don't think I will suddenly be much better or suddenly be more knowledgeable if I was promoted to black belt. If anything, my promotion to black belt would only represent my current ability and knowledge.

In my view, BJJ is very much like wrestling, boxing, and Muay Thai in terms of effectiveness and training. You don't see belts in any those combat sports.

fnunderful -

i think i get my 10th blue belt strip this april...sigh...

Lol im pretty sure you got your blue when I had one or two stripes on my blue. And I was a blue for about 8 years altogether. Don't worry I'm waiting at purple for you and I've been here for quite a few years already so hurry up so I can get to brown some day

I had a friend who left the gym he was at and went to another gym which had a big name, well, a big affiliation. He was a 3 stripe blue at that time. 

The bb told him to put on a white belt as that was the affiliations rule when you came in not white belt, so he did it due to wanting to train there while not questioning said bb. Within a few months he was beating most of the purple belts and all of the blue belts, he was a solid blue with a winning comp record at blue. When promotions came around he got one stripe on his white belt lol and was told if he wanted his blue belt he'd have to compete. He refused to compete as EVERYONE knew him and that he'd competed a ton at blue already, winning some comps. The bb refused to promote him.

The whole time I told him to jump ship but he liked the spot otherwise. He ended up leaving due to other weird shit. He put his blue back on when he left but bounced around a bit.

 

Long story short he went to the head of the association that made him wear a white belt and voiced his complaint after he left and was told to come to a different gym within with his original rank of blue and stripes. 6 months later he now has his purple there. 

deepu -

shen - We once brought up a 3 stripe Blue Belt and gave him his 4th stripe on his Blue Belt. As a student, he was OK, he kinda muscled everything and was sort of inconsistent.

When he saw the stripe tape, he blurted out, "SERIOUSLY...?!?!"

He really thought he deserved his Purple Belt.

Quit a couple weeks later.

Lol, guys like that should keep getting stripes.  Screw the 4 stripe limit.  They deserve to be 10 stripe blue belts.

What's the point then?  Why is there even a purple belt?

Stronghold -

deepu -

shen - We once brought up a 3 stripe Blue Belt and gave him his 4th stripe on his Blue Belt. As a student, he was OK, he kinda muscled everything and was sort of inconsistent.

When he saw the stripe tape, he blurted out, "SERIOUSLY...?!?!"

He really thought he deserved his Purple Belt.

Quit a couple weeks later.

Lol, guys like that should keep getting stripes.  Screw the 4 stripe limit.  They deserve to be 10 stripe blue belts.

What's the point then?  Why is there even a purple belt?

To see them cringe over and over again at seminars where they expect to be promoted?  On a more serious note, I'm not a fan of stripes ... I preferred the old way where you would just get a belt in class when you were ready.  Fewer expectations at big promotion seminars etc.  But I do get it ... Business models and all that.

When I started in '98, you were given a belt in class when Instructor felt you were ready. No big promotion classes.

But business is business.

Right... Then instructors found out people would pay $30 or $150 for a piece of tape.  My last school had belts with stripes sewn into them which looked a little better at least.  My last BJJ school didn't charge, they just gave you stripes or belts as needed.

 

But every school is different and that's probably good

Sometimes I think I'm ready for purple.  Then I'll roll with a good purple and come back down to earth 

 

 

I suppose you need belts to decide who goes where for tournaments but they could just have a begginer, advanced and expert divisions.  It would probably balance brackets.  

Are gyms charging for belts now?  I haven't ran into this

If I understand this correctly, the instructor conned his student out of $30 and the student brought him to small claims court. 

my buddy lost of couple students bc they didnt get striped or promoted on promotion day, some left to other academies and have to start over and some left to academies where you can buy your next belt.

Principal Andy -

If I understand this correctly, the instructor conned his student out of $30 and the student brought him to small claims court. 

Yes the article is written like shit. Did the instructor charge students to attend a belt ceremony in which they weren't receiving belts? If thats the case, it's fucked up. It's one thing to charge for belts or the belt test, but to charge people and not provide a "test" is awful. 

 

 

I trained at that school a couple of times while traveling in Brazil.

The one thing I hate about the belt thing is that, if you ever teach or want to open your own gym, your rank is an important thing to newcomers.  I think anyone that's trained a while realizes that a belt is only good for holding your pants up, and mat time, continual learning, and abililty to convey information are what counts, but good luck trying to sell that to some people.  They want a "black belt".  Best instruction I ever got was from a purple belt and a guy that was a 2-stripe blue that did a ton of no-gi, but you have to be willing to try them out to figure that out.  

nek -

The one thing I hate about the belt thing is that, if you ever teach or want to open your own gym, your rank is an important thing to newcomers.  I think anyone that's trained a while realizes that a belt is only good for holding your pants up, and mat time, continual learning, and abililty to convey information are what counts, but good luck trying to sell that to some people.  They want a "black belt".  Best instruction I ever got was from a purple belt and a guy that was a 2-stripe blue that did a ton of no-gi, but you have to be willing to try them out to figure that out.  

best coaches i've had were all BB...I know a lot of good coaches that are lower but they always have great black belts behind them.  I've learned most from lower belts (just because these are the guys that i had access to on a regular basis) but it is always a black belt that gives me that "ah ha" moment on why certain techniques aren't working for me.