I agree - I’ve got a blue belt at my club that keeps talking about coaching courses and he can’t execute a single throw in live randori. (He’s not a small guy either)
We had two guys at our club that would never train, maybe show uponce a month, but the second there was a grading date posted, they would be there every session until the grading, then they dissapeared again, never seen either compete... (One dude even had GB backpatch with his name on which always tickled me, ) They did this all the way up to 1st Kyu and I haven't seen them since, easy been over a year since then.
Oh wow that’s the worst - not on the same level but we had a BJJ guy doing similar to that and he’s now won his dan grade on his first grading but we haven’t seen him since! Think it was bragging rights to have a ‘Judo Black Belt’ 🙄
The patch is for sure an annoying one too - I’m an active competitor (I don’t win a lot) and I’ve done a few opens but still would not get a GBR patch unless I compete abroad 😭
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u/Wickle2545 ikkyu Jul 06 '25
BJA should bring back fighting for Kyu grades for seniors...