A few months back I took part in a podcast by The Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Hour discussing the merits, usefulness and actual meaning of belts in BJJ (Jiu-Jitsu Belt/Rank) Since then, there has been some discussion and tonight at 9pm Eastern Time the very first edition of Verbal Grappling, a new series being put together in conjunction between Jiu Jitsu Times and The BJJ Hour will be airing.
This first episode will feature a controversial topic: Minors entering adult brackets.
There have been several instances in recent history both in support of and against the idea of talented kids entering age brackets above theirs. Two that come to mind are Nicky Ryan, an ultra talented 13 year old who has been running through adult divisions and Gabriel Diniz, a 15 year old who was left paralyzed after a freak occurrence in a match in the adult division.
There has even been some talk in recent history about the possibility of eliminating submissions from kids’ BJJ training (an idea that I think is absolutely ludicrous).
There are plenty of other examples out there, including Riley Breedlove, and Autumn Gordon; girls who in spite of being under the age of 18 have done exceptionally well competing against grown women.
Tonight on Verbal Grappling there will be an open discussion/debate on this subject. Chances are everyone involved will have opinions on both sides of the discussion. We will be allowing viewers to call in and take part in the discussion so if this is something that interests you stay tuned. If not feel free to watch it after the fact, it will be available on The BJJ Hour’s YouTube page.
Moving forward there will be an episode of this podcast series every other week. We will feature some of the more controversial articles and subjects that have been on Jiu Jitsu Times, and discuss them. Each episode will be preceded with a brief explanation so you can see if it’s something you are interested in, and there will be follow-up articles written to recap what was discussed.
If you, our readers, have any subjects you want to see discussed on this podcast, let us know! This is a unique opportunity for experienced writers and podcasters to debate current and relevant subjects that affect us all as a community.
You can see the podcast here:
