Nick Koumalatsos, a former U.S. Marine Raider who spent 12 years in Special Operations and now works as an entrepreneur, podcast host, and active Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu competitor, made the case in a recent Instagram post that white belt is the most meaningful promotion in the sport.
Here is what he had to say on the topic:
The most significant promotion you will ever get in jiu jitsu is white belt…
Nobody throws a party for it. Nobody films it. There is no stripe, no ceremony, no line of guys whipping you with belts. You just walk in the door and put the thing on.
And that is exactly why it counts more than the rest of them.
For Koumalatsos, the distinction comes down to what each promotion demands:
Every belt after white is earned with skill. White belt is earned with courage.
It takes courage to walk into a room where you know nothing, in front of people who will beat you for years before you get good, and choose it anyway.
He pushed back directly on the excuses people give for avoiding that first step:
I am too old. I missed my window. I am not in shape enough yet. I will start after the holidays.
Those are not reasons. Those are a life you are choosing without admitting you chose it.
Koumalatsos closed by redefining what courage actually looks like in that moment:
Courage is not the absence of all that. It is putting the belt on while you still feel it.
Congratulations to the men who did. You already did the hardest part.
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