West Coast BJJ Belt Test
I am testing for all belts for a while now and I want to explain to everyone why and how.
As our club is growing and I am getting busier and older I find it hard to simply look at a student , remember all his strengths and weaknesses and award him a belt without any testing. Although I can see it when I roll with him/her and even when I discuss it with the student I soon forget again exactly what it was he has to work on as I train with many student every week.
Since I teach in four location at least twice a week I will see a student two classes a week but I also see many other students as well. To make things even harder West Coast BJJ & MMA also has 13 affiliate clubs in and outside the BC Lower Mainland and Vancouver Island. These clubs are mostly run by senior students and instructors that are training under me or club owners that train with me.
I visit these clubs about twice a year for seminars and promotions and several of their students drop into our clubs to train with us as well. While I find that I can roll with a student for 5 minutes and access if he has made enough process in the last six months to warrant a stripe I don’t think it would be sound to award a belt based on this alone. These seminars are usually a busy time and besides a short time of observation of students sparring I really don’t get to know their game enough.
I am hesitant to put my name, De la Riva Jiu-Jitsu and/ or our West Coast BJJ & MMA name on a belt awarded based on a five minute roll and a few minutes of observation. So, I studied several accomplished BJJ coaches that are testing and deicided to test. You can check out our current Blue Belt Exam here:
West Coast Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Blue Belt Exam
Important! Please read the following requirements:
- Bring this test with you on the day of the exam.
- Please make sure you pay the test fee at least one week in advance of your test date.
- If you are not sure about the requirements in this examination, catch up with extra training, private classes or ask for a delay in your belt exam.
- Please show up on time for your examination or you may need to reschedule your test. The exam will take about one hour.
I. Verbal Exam
A. How long have you been training?
B. What’s your reason for studying Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu?
C. What is your favourite part of the training and what is your least favourite part?
D. What is your strongest area in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and what is your weakest area?
II. Positional Escapes
A. Perform one mount escape of your choice
B. Perform one side mount escape of your choice
C. Perform one closed guard escape of your choice
D. Perform one rear mount escape of your choice
III. Positional Dominance
A. Hold the mount position
B. Hold the side mount position
C. Hold the closed guard position
D. Hold the rear mount position
IV. Guard Sweeps
A. Perform a sweep of your choice from the open guard
C. Perform a sweep of your choice from the half guard
C. Perform a sweep of your choice from the spider guard
D. Perform a sweep of your choice from the de la Riva guard
V. Submissions
A. Perform a submission of your choice from the guard
B. Perform a submission of your choice from the side mount
C. Perform a submission of your choice from the mount
D. Perform a submission of your choice from the rear mount
VI. Sparring
A. Grapple with another student for one five minute round
B. Grapple with the instructor for one five minute round
VII. Evaluation of sparring sessions
A. Competency in takedowns
1 2 3 4 5
B. Competency in the closed guard
1 2 3 4 5
D. Competency in the open guard
1 2 3 4 5
F. Competency in sweeps and reversals
1 2 3 4 5
An overall average of 3 is required to pass this part of the examination
VIII. Character
A. Reliability- Student demonstrates trustworthiness in class.
B. Integrity- Student demonstrates responsibility for his/her actions in class.
C. Honesty- Student is forthright with his/her team mates and instructors.
As you can see it is a pretty open format that allows the students to show his strenghts and allows me to follow up on any improvements I would like to see made. I also have to say that I am not awarding the belt automatically after the test. I often see some holes in their game I want the student to fill first before I let them move on. I spend about an hour with the student and as this time becomes more and more as the students come up to their purple, brown and black belt test.
Most students appear to appreciate and profit the process. While they are fretting the test they usually are walking away with lots of things to work on. I just tested yesterday one student for his purple belt that refused to take the test for a long time. His attitude changed dramatically during the test and at the end he expressed his satisfaction and remarked that he was surprised how many small and basic details he was missing in his game confirming my believe that I am doing my student a real service by testing them and give them an hour of undivided attention and the confidence that they actually earned the belt.
Don Whitefield
West Coast BJJ & MMA 