During the December 2018 promotion ceremony, without anyone knowing, I promoted my first Black Belt.
Antônio Barão was there supporting his teammates' promotions and, when he least expected it, the long-awaited Black Belt came!
Check out the video. It's long, but very emotional.
Surprise promotion - Black Belt
Criteria
For me, Jiu-Jitsu goes far beyond fighting. Of course, when I evaluate my students I also look at their technical progress, but that's not all. What good is being a great athlete without respect?
At my school we have a banner with a few words that, in my view, are fundamental. I can't picture how a black belt could lack respect, discipline, commitment, camaraderie, and so on.
Comparison
Most people like to compare two students and, based on that comparison, take it as fact whether one of them can be promoted or not. But let me ask you this: how am I supposed to compare a 50-year-old who was sedentary until starting Jiu-Jitsu and can only train three times a week with an 18-year-old kid who trains twice a day? I think that comparison is the most ridiculous thing you can do, and all it does is discourage students.
If we look at the divisions in the major championships, we'll see that some athletes always stand out. But that doesn't mean the athletes who don't make the podium don't deserve the belt they hold. Some athletes are training at a high-performance level and really are above the average of their divisions.
With the Black Belt, we also have athletes and instructors. Many instructors aren't even competing anymore, but they walked a long road to reach that long-awaited black belt.
My first black belt
The day in the video was truly a dream come true. At every promotion ceremony I always said I wanted to take my students all the way to Black Belt, so I could then see them by my side at the ceremonies.
I ended up deciding to make it a surprise promotion that only my wife and I knew about. During the ceremony, I spoke precisely about the criteria I use to promote my students and, after a long speech, I showed the Black Belt to my student Antônio Barão and the crowd went wild.
Everything I said in the video truly describes who Antônio Barão is. He dedicated himself, pushed past his limits, and absolutely deserved this achievement.
The promotion was in December 2018, but I only edited the video now, and I'll admit I got emotional every single time I watched it while editing.
The Top Brother family
When I say that at Top Brother we really are a family, it's because within the team I value some fundamental principles, but I think the crowd's reaction says it all.
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