To Stripe or Not To Stripe in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu

I have been to and trained at a lot of BJJ schools and I have noticed that in some Jiu-Jitsu schools they don’t give stripes on student belts. I had trained at the Las Vegas Combat for a couple years when I lived in Las Vegas and they didn’t give stripes to students either.   They even laughed when the mention of stripes came up.

I want to say that not striping students can be a great moral wrecker and a lousy way to keep the  students of your school.  I will even go one step further and say that in BJJ we need to have MORE belts. I know that in a few schools they are starting to implement the green belt right before blue.  I think this is a great idea.  I think we also need to have an advanced blue belt, advanced purple belt and an advanced brown belt thrown in the mix.  This will keep our students motivated.  It’s a mighty long haul from blue to purple and this is where most of the students quit in BJJ.  Why not help them stay motivated?   

If you say “No Way” to the new belt idea then I suggest we get back to our roots and we keep just two belts..the white and black belt.  You can stay a white belt for ten years.  Who needs motivation?