My old gi

This is what I think of as my brown belt gi.

I call it this because I bought it in 2011 while a purple belt, and around the same time I decided that for my own development, the development of my students and the greater good of my club, I would rededicate myself to Brazilian Jiu Jitsu with the goal of reaching brown belt standard in 3 years. I wore this gi most days as it was my favourite, and within 6 months it was no longer black, it was grey from washing and wear and tear, the knees were frayed, the collar was starting to wear thin, any patches I had sewn on to it were off (and resewn only to fall off again). I kept that level of training up for 2 more years, and Robert Drysdale gave me my brown belt in 2012.

I’m posting this now as a reminder to myself that since then, every gi I own still looks pretty fresh. I haven’t been working as hard, and I haven’t been training as much. Not all of this is my fault, I have a pretty busy lifestyle, but I am now setting a new goal of getting my black belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu in 3 years time. I might be coming to train with you, whoever you are, pretty soon to help me with that goal by getting you to smash me!

See you on the mat. Nothing to it but to do it!

Barry