2 New Black Belts at Kyuzo
We have 2 new Black Belts in Kyuzo! Congratulations to Sean King and Eoin Devlin.
I liked giving these on the day because they both came up through the ranks in very different ways.
Sean came through as a competitor before beginning to coach kids classes as a Purple Belt. He’d admit himself that teaching improved his training. Having to break down every technique so that you can teach it is a great way to fast track your technical knowledge.
But Sean competed a lot too, and this culminated in a Silver at the European NoGi Championships in Rome in 2024. He’s a worthy Black Belt recipient after 8 years of constant training.
Eoin’s journey through the ranks is different. Competition isn’t his thing, so instead he’s been an ever-present on the mats in Kyuzo since 2015. He’s built his skill through consistency. I really can’t remember a period of more than a couple of weeks where he’s been off the mats.
I joked at the presentation that he’s my size and weight, so I built him into a black Belt training partner by beating him up over and over again in training until he could beat me up. It’s actually not far from the truth!
A Jiu Jitsu Black Belt is a long road to travel, and the old adage goes that the learning only begins when you get it. I agree with that statement. It’s also great to reward that time spent getting there.
And here’s the other thing that people rarely say about how you get a black belt. People talk about hard work and dedication a lot, and yeah, of course it’s work. But it’s fun work!
The people who get there are usually the ones who just come in and enjoy training and the people they train with. They have great craic along the way. I’ve seen so many people trying and rushing to get their next belt in Jiu Jitsu and they forget that it’s more like a river. You just go with the flow and all of the improvements happen along the way as long as you keep showing up with an open mind.
Congratulations once again to Eoin and Sean, my 12th and 13th Black Belts.
See you on the mat,
Barry