Respecting the art

[pittbullJudoka]

I have respect all martial arts whether I agree with their technique or not. Now one way I respect arts if I walk into a gym or dojo I am not affiliated with or train at I wear no rank or a white belt. This being said I train at a BJJ gym and run a school of my own with my brother. When teaching Kenpo the art I have obtained the rank of 2nd dan I of course wear my black belt, when teaching BJJ I while wear my appropriate belt earned in that art. Now I don't go so far as to wear my jiu jitsu belt for every single move related to that art such as throws and different take downs. But If I go to the ground to get in depth with the art such as transitions and joint locks I will dawn my rank.

Personally I feel that I should show my rank for the art I'm teaching. One reason for this is I would want someone to walk into my school and see me teaching some BJJ moves to my students wearing a black belt and have them to think I'm a black belt in BJJ. There are enough fakes out there for the average person interested in martial arts to deal with. Also I feel it would be a disrespect to my coach and the art. Also if I am rolling (sparring bjj) in my gym I will always wear my jiu jitsu belt. As a respect to my art.

So my question is does anyone else feel this way?

[Spartacus Maximus]

You already do as much as possible from an attitude point of view. As for the rest, just be honest and open about your skill level in each system you practise or teach. That is the main difference between a fraud and one who teaches or practises for the love of their martial art. If you cannot perform a technique or explain it because it is beyond the depths of your knowledge, be ready to point the interested student to someone who can. Or invite that someone to help you teach. That shows respect for yourself, your students and teachers and the arts you practise.

[Archimoto]

I have respect all martial arts whether I agree with their technique or not. Now one way I respect arts if I walk into a gym or dojo I am not affiliated with or train at I wear no rank or a white belt. This being said I train at a BJJ gym and run a school of my own with my brother. When teaching Kenpo the art I have obtained the rank of 2nd dan I of course wear my black belt, when teaching BJJ I while wear my appropriate belt earned in that art. Now I don't go so far as to wear my jiu jitsu belt for every single move related to that art such as throws and different take downs. But If I go to the ground to get in depth with the art such as transitions and joint locks I will dawn my rank.

Personally I feel that I should show my rank for the art I'm teaching. One reason for this is I would want someone to walk into my school and see me teaching some BJJ moves to my students wearing a black belt and have them to think I'm a black belt in BJJ. There are enough fakes out there for the average person interested in martial arts to deal with. Also I feel it would be a disrespect to my coach and the art. Also if I am rolling (sparring bjj) in my gym I will always wear my jiu jitsu belt. As a respect to my art.

So my question is does anyone else feel this way?

I think you're handling it perfectly.

Your approach respects the art and sets a wonderful example for your students.

[pittbullJudoka]

You already do as much as possible from an attitude point of view. As for the rest, just be honest and open about your skill level in each system you practise or teach. That is the main difference between a fraud and one who teaches or practises for the love of their martial art. If you cannot perform a technique or explain it because it is beyond the depths of your knowledge, be ready to point the interested student to someone who can. Or invite that someone to help you teach. That shows respect for yourself, your students and teachers and the arts you practise.

I'm very open about my experience in both my given arts. I don't claim to be the know all end in either art as I'm young in one and even younger in the other. For example in my BJJ teaching I try to keep within my realm of knowledge if not I trouble shoot the given problem my student my have and if I fail to have the knowledge my Jiu Jitsu coach is more than willing to give me the guidance to the solution. I am more than willing to point a student to the knowledge that they seek. My main thing is not to put on the appearance that I am something I am not.

[ps1]

I have respect all martial arts whether I agree with their technique or not. Now one way I respect arts if I walk into a gym or dojo I am not affiliated with or train at I wear no rank or a white belt. This being said I train at a BJJ gym and run a school of my own with my brother. When teaching Kenpo the art I have obtained the rank of 2nd dan I of course wear my black belt, when teaching BJJ I while wear my appropriate belt earned in that art. Now I don't go so far as to wear my jiu jitsu belt for every single move related to that art such as throws and different take downs. But If I go to the ground to get in depth with the art such as transitions and joint locks I will dawn my rank.

Personally I feel that I should show my rank for the art I'm teaching. One reason for this is I would want someone to walk into my school and see me teaching some BJJ moves to my students wearing a black belt and have them to think I'm a black belt in BJJ. There are enough fakes out there for the average person interested in martial arts to deal with. Also I feel it would be a disrespect to my coach and the art. Also if I am rolling (sparring bjj) in my gym I will always wear my jiu jitsu belt. As a respect to my art.

So my question is does anyone else feel this way?

I agree 100% with the way you handle it. I also agree that if you're in the middle of a kenpo lesson or between kenpo lessons, wearing your kenpo rank, and are asked a BJJ question, there's no need to to a quick change to your bjj belt to answer the question. As long as you wear the appropriate belt for the classes you're running at the moment, you're good.

I am also a BJJ Black Belt. Thank you for showing the appropriate respect to the art. I would never go into a Kenpo school wearing a BJJ black belt unless I was teaching BJJ. If I walked into a judo school, despite being decent on my takedowns, I wouldn't' expect them to honor a bjj rank either. I know exactly zero judo kata, which is another big part of their art.

[tallgeese]

As another guy out of multiple arts I'd have to agree 100 percent with how you handle this. It is about respecting the art and what you do as well. There's far too much misrepresentation as it is and it's excellent to see it handled in this manner.

[bushido_man96]

I have respect all martial arts whether I agree with their technique or not. Now one way I respect arts if I walk into a gym or dojo I am not affiliated with or train at I wear no rank or a white belt. This being said I train at a BJJ gym and run a school of my own with my brother. When teaching Kenpo the art I have obtained the rank of 2nd dan I of course wear my black belt, when teaching BJJ I while wear my appropriate belt earned in that art. Now I don't go so far as to wear my jiu jitsu belt for every single move related to that art such as throws and different take downs. But If I go to the ground to get in depth with the art such as transitions and joint locks I will dawn my rank.

Personally I feel that I should show my rank for the art I'm teaching. One reason for this is I would want someone to walk into my school and see me teaching some BJJ moves to my students wearing a black belt and have them to think I'm a black belt in BJJ. There are enough fakes out there for the average person interested in martial arts to deal with. Also I feel it would be a disrespect to my coach and the art. Also if I am rolling (sparring bjj) in my gym I will always wear my jiu jitsu belt. As a respect to my art.

So my question is does anyone else feel this way?

I think you are spot on. I have a bit of a different experience with my Combat Hapkido training. When we did it in our school, we did it after our TKD classes, for about 30 minutes, and we would change out of our doboks and take our belts off, and just wear our dobok pants and a black ICHF t-shirt. I have a uniform for the style, but I have never received a belt for a promotion, just a certificate. But, we never really trained it outside of our school, and we all just treated each other in regards to what our TKD rank was. But, should I decide to practice some of those techniques in our TKD class, or work on some of the GRACIE techniques I've learned, I wouldn't take off my belt in class to teach it. I would, however, disclose that I don't hold any rank in BJJ of any kind, and that what my knowledge consists of is a skill set primarily limited to defensive tactics. If I was going to dedicate a class hour to each of these things, for Combat Hapkido, I'd probably get a belt signifying my rank and wear it. For DT related stuff, I'd probably just wear either my normal uniform, or go shorts/t-shirt workout attire.

As for going to work out in another gym, I'm with you on the wearing a white belt rank, unless the instructor informed me to do otherwise. I'd speak with the instructor prior to going to workout there, and provide full disclosure. Let him know I am ranked in other styles, and fill him in further if he wants to know. But, I'd tell him my plan for his school is to show up and learn, and not pitch in my .02 cents as to how I would do things. Then, I'd tell him that I would just wear whatever their attire is, and a white belt, unless he tells me to do otherwise.

[ShoriKid]

Pittbull mentioned this thread in class last night and I immediately flashed to us gathering up gear for a Luiz Palhares seminar.

-scene- In the dojo office, gathering up gi, tape, gear bag, water-scene-

SK-I can't find my freaking white belt! I haven't needed a belt in years.

PBJ-Don't worry about it, you won't need a belt at the seminar.

SK-Okay, cool.-finishes packing up-

-scene Luiz Palhares seminar. Master Palhares sets up first drill-

Okay, they are backing the hips, so you grab the belt...

-And, end scene, fade-

That bit of entertainment was brought to you because I thought I knew where my old, original white belt was. It had been quite a while since I visited a school and had stored it where I wouldn't lose it. Which led to the above. I've never claimed rank in an art that I didn't have. Always been honest about what I've trained in and the extent of my skill/ranking. I'm proud of what I've earned, but never claim to be other than that.

When we teach class PittbullJudoka doesn't change rank mid lesson, but when we shift gears to an exclusively BJJ section, the blue belt comes out. Neither of us does anything like that when we say, maintain control of an arm after a take down and apply a lock. But, say we are training a sweep and guard pass set of techniques, we will very likely swap out belts. By we, as chief sparring dummy I strap on my white belt and get swept, choked and locked.

Just for reference we are a gi pants and tee shirt with belt dojo most of the time. Being up stairs with a landlord who believes open windows to be the best AC available has made that a habit. We put on the winter coats (ie. gi jackets) for BJJ and some stand up sessions when we want handles or we are trying to respect the traditions we have come from.

Something like this is a school by school sort of thing where you have to make a call on how you teach. Some places, if it weren't a specifically BJJ class wouldn't make the change for sake of saving time. That is their call.

[Archimoto]

-scene- In the dojo office, gathering up gi, tape, gear bag, water-scene-

SK-I can't find my freaking white belt! I haven't needed a belt in years.

PBJ-Don't worry about it, you won't need a belt at the seminar.

SK-Okay, cool.-finishes packing up-

-scene Luiz Palhares seminar. Master Palhares sets up first drill-

Okay, they are backing the hips, so you grab the belt...

-And, end scene, fade-

I laughed, l cried, two thumbs up !!!

[maisweh]

they have a taekwondo school around here now that just added in bjj classes after going to one of those weekend certification seminars. he wears his tkd blackbelt to "teach". pretty hilarious during a festival they did a demo and performed some bjj and talked about it. a bluebelt friend of mine shows up to the school for a free class, makes the blackbelt tap a few times and tells him he needs to take the belt off.