The Purple Belt!

Here it is.
Spent almost all day in Indianapolis. It was to be a day of Brazilian Jiu-jitsu. Marcello Monteiro-my coach-had been planning a seminar for months. He made sure there were two other black belts present, one from Florida named Sergio, the other was one of Marcelo's newer black belts, a guy everyone just calls Uncle Ron. The gym was packed with I don't know how many guys (guys in its gender neutral sense), everyone of them eager to train and impress Marcello. From ten in the morning to 1 in the afternoon we learned and practiced techniques and drills. Then at 1 we broke for belt advancement awards, stripes or new belts. This took forever, but I am not complaining. My blue belt changed into a purple! And that my friends and constant readers has been a long god-damned time coming. The rest of the afternoon was spent grappling. It was interesting and immediate, the change that kind of clicked in my head, like a switch being flipped. One momement I was just a normal blue belt of which the academy has plenty. The next moment I was one of the elite, someone who was expected to win almost everytime against the blue belts, and white belts, and give the browns and blacks trouble. As a purple belt one suddenly becomes the newest target. "If I tap this guy out, I will get the coaches attention." This becomes the thought of every lower belt.
So I was happy that I only lost one match in the post seminar grappling. That loss I am happy to report was from another purple belt who tipped the scales at 296 lbs. That was a weight advantage of roughly 76 lbs. I am also happy to report that it was a helluva match.
I will post pictures of the days events soon. Also, more pictures will be up here at a later date...www.bjjcoach.com