Three students feeling Blue

A SQUAD of 23 members from Dundalk Team Torres Brazilian Jiu Jitsu club attended team grading at Team Torres HQ in Newry last weekend, where after two hours of intense sparring under the watchful eye of the National Instructor, and Brazilian native, Sebastiao Torres, three members of the team were promoted to the coveted rank of Blue Belt.

They were Barry Callan, Darren Mackin, and Kyle Keating, thereby bringing the tally of Blue Belts at the Dundalk Club to a very respectable ten.

Unlike many other martial arts the BJJ grading system is very conservative with it taking an average of 12 years training 3 times per week to attain the rank of Black- belt in BJJ - compared to less than 5 years for most other martial arts. A new student in BJJ starts with a white belt and after approximately two years is promoted to arguably one of the most important belts - the blue belt.

A blue belt is a symbol that you have a certain amount of technical knowledge in every position and can demonstrate your skills in a live environment against a fully resisting opponent.

Dundalk head coach Cormac O’Hanlon speaking after the grading commended those who were promoted as well as those who received stripes on their belts.

“Blue belts are often the ones new students look up to when they first start training,” said Cormac “It’s not that the instructor or other purple, brown and black belts cannot be inspirational for new students, but the ranks of purple, brown and black can seem very far away, while a blue belt is the attainable next step in a new student’s journey.

‘‘A BJJ belt can symbolize many things, such as time spent on the mats, skill, and competition experience - everything a new student lacks.”

The Dundalk team offers specific classes in Ground Grappling and Takedowns for both beginners and intermediate level, and more details can be found on their Facebook page DundalkTorres.