I can’t remember the exact date, but somewhere around 5 years ago this week I walked into the doors of Fight to Win.
I wish I could say I did so because of Steve Hall’s lineage. Nope. It was the closest to my house 🤷🏾♂️. I saw a Facebook ad and reached out. Steve said I could come in that Monday and to please let him know if I wasn’t going to make it; don’t waste his time.
I mean, I showed up but I have to leave it to Steve to say if I’ve wasted his time 😂
When I walked through the door there were like 8 purple belts lined up against the wall. I left a school that was run by a purple belt…I felt I was wading into deep waters. Every single one of those purple belts were tough in their own way. I kept in my head what it was like to be a purple belt…
Now I am one. Today, I helped teach a 370lb guy how to hip toss. Which means I lifted a 370lb guy and hip tossed him. There was a time I would not have even have the confidence to even try that.
Today, I looked around the room and saw many people who I have grown with and who have helped me grow. Friends. Family. I guess this is what you get when you stay in one place for the longest time you have as an adult.
I have an incredible sense of gratitude. There is no doubt, none, that I’m better at jiujitsu than I was the first day I walked through the doors. I hope I’m living up to that image I had in my head of what it is to be a purple belt. I hope I’m a better person too. Either way, more work to be done.
While I would never claim to be the best person or purple belt on the map here are a few things I have learned upon being on the mats of Fight to Win:
1. The only thing you should ever expect is the opportunity to come train and come back the next day. You may think that you deserved that stripe. You may think you deserve that status. You may think you deserve to be in front of the class teaching. Who cares? It’s a gift being able to walk onto the mats every time and getting to train with people that I like. Everything else falls by the wayside and once you’re in the head space that you will come in and improve each and every time you come into class. No one can take that away.
2. Along those lines, be open to train with any and everyone. The more knowledge you have, the more knowledge you should want to share. It gives you the chance to go over fundamentals that you’ve learned once again and trust me you can never do that enough. When you can become a resource on the mat as a purple belt you’re not only preparing yourself to teach one day but you’re also more approachable than a brown or black belt in that a white belt may look at your belt and it’s not as “scary” to come to a purple belt.
3. Not at all contradictory is you should have a group of people you like to have around as your main training partners and who you can grow with. I feel like I lucked into my group; I was kinda floating there as an advanced blue belt around summer to mid 2020 when my boy Jake came to the school and started asking me questions. Right around the same time big Phil comes back to the school (6’6” 275, former lineman for NC State) and Steve (head instructor) tells me that he should be my main training partner; if my stuff works on him it will work with anybody. That plus a little bit of #2 sprinkled in and all of a sudden I have a decent amount of big guys who come to me asking me questions about fundamentals and how to improve. In turn, I become better at instructing and technique while I’m helping them get better too. Good circle of growth there. Even better, I just don’t see how it’s possible to do any of this without having developed some meaningful friendships off the mats, too.
4. All of the times I came to advanced class as a white and blue belt are starting to come to fruition now. Let me tell you, planting those seeds took a long time to bear fruit but that literally is what jiujitsu is: you do a move once, get it sunk into your brain and muscle memory, then you revisit it a few weeks or months later. If it’s something you want to improve upon immediately, you work it over and over again until you don’t have to think about it. Testing for purple belt, I had to learn our blue belt list and commit it to memory. Then I applied what I was learning to how I rolled during open mats and pass, sweep, submit. Then it REALLY sunk in. By the time I got purple belt, going to advance class I could start on the same sheet of music as Steve was on instead of wondering what whole note was and in what key, to extend a metaphor. It is very rewarding to see patience get rewarded like it has.
5. Have fun. Laugh. Loudly. There are going to be days on the mats where you come in and everything is sore and you have to warm up for a while to get those joints going. There are going to be days where you leave and it takes a ton of concentration to get to car and drive home and not fall asleep because you’re so tired. Try to find times on the mat with your training partners to be silly and remember that we all get to be there for that moment in time and get to learn probably the coolest martial art I’ll ever get the chance to do. It has undoubtedly changed me for the better and made me want to find ways to improve my mental and physical prowess.
Five years flew by. I’m not in a hurry to see five more go by, but I am anxious to find out how I will improve and who I can help improve on their journey.
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