09/01/2026
A special promotion night at OJJ.
One of my favorite parts of coaching is getting to recognize people who have put in the work and earned that next step. Tonight, we got to do a lot of that.
Abby, Brad, and Lydia — Promoted to Grey Belt
All three had standout performances at Grappling Industries Syracuse this weekend, but these promotions are about much more than one tournament. I’ve watched each of them grow tremendously in the room, and this weekend was an opportunity for them to show just how far they’ve come.
I’m incredibly proud of all three of them. Grey belts well earned.
Cristian, Kevin, and Shirley — Promoted to Blue Belt
Cristian finished his time at white belt by winning his bracket Saturday. He’s put a ton of work into his game, and it showed.
Kevin continues to be someone who will take on whatever challenge is put in front of him. Saturday, that meant dropping into the adult division AND moving up a weight class just to get matches. He still battled his way to 3rd in a tough bracket. That says a lot about him.
Shirley proved she was ready at the IBJJF NY Summer Open last month. She’s been consistently putting in extra work, improving, competing, and pushing herself. This one was earned.
We also handed out a bunch of long-overdue stripes tonight. I wish I could highlight every single one, because there are so many people in our room right now making huge improvements.
As a coach, that’s the part I’m most proud of. Medals are awesome. Winning is awesome. But watching our students consistently show up, challenge themselves, support their teammates, compete, learn from losses, and come back better is what this is really about.
We’ll have more promotions when we get back from Vegas and following the OJJ Invitational on October 24th.
Congratulations to everyone who was recognized tonight. I’m proud of you all, and I’m proud of what we’re building together at OJJ.
