I was thinking of starting BJJ but the only club where I live is instructed by a purple belt, I don't know the grading system so I was wondering do others think thats a high enough level that it would be worth joining the club? Especially since from what I gather from the website it seems to be around NZ$25 for 2 sessions (~$50 US)
I am no expert, but from what I understand it is not terribly unusual for an instructor to be at a purple belt level. It takes a long time to get a BB in BJJ and there aren't a lot of them. At a purple level your instructor should be able to teach you a long time before you catch up to him, assuming he never progresses himself. I know the purple belts at our club are phenomenal and I could easily train under them for a couple years and still be learning new stuff. That is very expensive compared to what I pay for a BB in BJJ to be teaching me, are you talking about private lessons or a class? Are BJJ lessons traded on the stock exchange where you are? They seem to be worth more than gold!
Hi Lady Calynne, BJJ has an arguably different belt ranking system to most other martial arts around today. There are only 4 belts in BJJ if you don't count the white belt. White-Blue-Purple-Brown-Black. The purple belt is the standard teaching belt in BJJ. It is the rank where you would already be armed with an arsenal of techniques, including a small selection of techniques where you're pretty much guaranteed to be able to perform on a lower ranked, fully resisting opponent. Purple is where you are starting to really refine your "game". Brown belt is very close to black belt, it's a belt where experience counts, giving you the edge. As for the price you mentioned, it should be cheaper if you pay the monthly fee. Can I ask which BJJ school you are enquiring about? Is it the John Will-Machado BJJ schools? *edited - I forgot to mention that the purple or brown belts are usually affiliated with a black belt head instructor, under the umbrella of a parent organisation. It is highly unusual for a purple belt to be running an indepedent BJJ school on his own, without a clear designated blackbelt head instructor somewhere above him. *edited again! - if you have never had any grappling experience, I guarantee that you could train under a purple belt for at least 5-6 years before you got to purple yourself, by which stage the purple would've progressed to black!
Yeah it is under John Will, I'm not sure about the price though, what it did say was: After a price check: The price is nz$40 unwaged or nz$50 waged a month, though womens only is $5 a session, once a week, maybe they'll let me do it for less if I only go to half the sessions,
Ah I think the $25 price they quoted was for single lessons, which sounds about right. They'd prefer if you signed up for a month at a time I think. The Will-Machado BJJ schools are reputable, you'll get quality instruction. Good luck!
