Jiu-Jitsu Updates For Mid-March – Jeff’s Brown Belt

A few days ago, I received a secret email informing me that my Jiu-Jitsu instructor was going to receive his long-awaited brown belt. For those of you who aren’t tuned into the Jitsu world, brown belt is a pretty big deal. It means that you’ve been in the business of rolling around for a good number of years, probably teach a lot, really know your stuff and are a very good player. It’s the promotion you receive right before black belt. And from what I’ve seen, black isn’t far behind.

After I received the email, I got all sorts of excited. Of course, I had to contain my excitement during Monday night’s class, because Jeff was teaching and the whole thing was supposed to remain on the “Down Low.” During Monday night’s class, I watched Jeff’s face and came to the conclusion that he, in fact, was on to something. Whether he was aware he was going to be promoted isn’t clear, but I’m sure he was on to something. Whatever. It was a fun class and I didn’t let the cat out of the bag. We went over different crucifix submissions and had an all around good time. Crucifix is always fun.

Yesterday afternoon, I charged up my camera battery in hopes I would get tons of good footage of last night’s events. We knew Brad was to come up and begin his monthly class around 7, so I planned on rolling around for a bit and then running out to the car for my camera and tripod. I knew it would look dorky setting up the whole thing during class, but I didn’t care. The results would have been worth it and all the great pictures and video would be floating around Facebook right now.

Brad (SoulCraftBJJ) showed up, along with Rob (BushidoBJJ) and some of Rob’s students. When I saw Rob’s guys, I got all psyched. I haven’t seen them in years and the last time I visited them, we had some awesome rolls. His students are a lot of fun.

Brad immediately started class. Back on Tuesday, I emailed our old friend and classmate, Pete, and asked that he come to Jeff’s promotion. I knew he wouldn’t miss it and he did come. He brought his wife and child and arrived promptly at 6:30. I had no idea what was going to happen that night schedule-wise, so I felt bad when Pete had to leave about a half hour later. I guess Brad’s plan wasn’t to jump right into the promotion. He taught for about an hour first.

After our learning a new guard pass and drilling that for a while, Brad asked that we pay attention for a bit. With that, he promoted Jeff to brown belt and we were all very proud. Every promotion is a good promotion, especially for those who have really earned it through the years.

Now, here’s the bad part about last night. Like I said above, I had planned to make a big deal about the whole thing. I really wanted to get the promotion on video. Yeah – didn’t get that. Once Brad opened up the mat for free rolling, I took one look at the guys from Bushido and walked out to do my thing. Next thing I know, it’s an hour and a half later and condensation is running down the brick walls. When I realized that people were leaving, I ran out to my car to get my camera. When I got back inside, I took the lens cover off and BAM. Fog. I couldn’t, for the life of me, get that lens to stay clear. By that time, Brad had everyone lined up to bow out. A few others took pictures with their cell phones, but no real “series” like I wanted to get.

To make up for my bad behavior, I emailed Jeff this morning and mentioned that I want to get a photo shoot and perhaps a roll with him on video. He agreed and we’re going to get this done on Monday night. So to make a long story short, check this blog and Jeff’s site on Tuesday. We should both have some good stuff up and ready to roll.