What do you do with a black belt?

People often ask the question, what does it take to become a black belt? This is widely answered and actually quite simple, of course not easy! But what do you actually do when you have one?

There is often a realisation that firstly, you thought you had reached the summit, only to discover that you have really only reached basecamp , and that actually there are a multitude of directions you can go in, and multiple mountains to ascend and summits to reach. Also, you can sometimes need to seemingly go ‘down’ first in order to reach the top.

Which mountain should you climb? This is not explained, its very simple at all other belt levels as there are belt colours, limited number of stripes, belt specific tournaments etc.

As a black belt you could think about the following:

• Open an academy of your own
• Become an elite level competitor
• Travel and deliver seminars
• Complement your belt with skills from other martial arts
• Quietly just carry on training as you are

A lot of these questions will be answered by how driven you are, what you have going on in your life, your age, career, family etc.

For myself, I have always enjoyed working for myself and looking for creative ideas in order to expand on what I am doing. The lifestyle around BJJ, and everyone that makes up a club or community offers a fascinating opportunity to collaborate and complement what we do.

Currently I have been working closely with a couple of my students and speaking with people in the wider community about the relationship with music and BJJ. See my last post and look at our instagram for content around this, and the ‘PitGrappler’ event we ran at our club.

One of the big realisations I have had is that as a black belt, I have an understanding of my ability to learn, how I learn best and where my greatest achievements have occurred over an extended period of time. This realisation is giving me the confidence to develop new skills. I have set myself a goal (over 10 years) to master the guitar. I believe that most mastery takes that long, you might achieve things sooner, but why make too much pressure.

So how have I answered the question of ‘what do you do with a black belt?

I’m not in competition with anyone else, this has been one of my values for a long time. I am only trying to be a better version of myself every day, and to inspire others to achieve their full potential. I am using my black belt and knowledge acquired to take me out into the wider community of BJJ, to help connect different communities and to find common ground.

Right now my biggest passion is networking within BJJ, I have done this by visiting academies, by inviting people to come down and surfnroll with me, and by developing networking events within the cybersecurity industry.

What I am doing now is creating BJJ events around music, specifically heavy metal, its what energises me the most, its not everyones cup of tea, but then we don’t all have to tread the same path!

Keep an eye out for PitGrappler, this is my event within a brand under the umbrella of North Shore Jiu Jitsu and inspired by the (sometimes alternative) life I have led.

All photos: Poppy Hobson