“I know so many coaches that tell their students that talking about belts and promotions is taboo to the point where if a student even brings up the prospect of being promoted, they’ll like purposely punish them and not promote them just for even being curious about what is necessary for their promotion,”
Salles said.
Salles, who teaches at Movement Art, explained that his academy takes a different approach, embracing transparency and open communication about rank advancement. He compared martial arts belts to academic degrees, arguing that students have the right to understand promotion requirements.
“If these belts mean anything, if they’re analogous to like a degree and like a college degree or like any sort of like a professional degree, you have all the rights to ask us like what is required of you to receive that promotion, that degree,”
he stated.
The black belt advocated for breaking down traditional barriers between students and instructors, promoting a more open training environment.
“We should break down these walls of what we are allowed to talk about with our coaches,”
Salles emphasized, highlighting the importance of transparency in modern martial arts education.
This revelation has sparked discussions within the Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu community about traditional teaching methods and the evolution of student-instructor relationships in martial arts academies.
