I Received a Stripe and my Partners Didn’t
Receiving a stripe and getting closer to a new belt is something to be excited about. It means that your skill and knowledge were recognized by your teacher and you’re one step closer to the ultimate goal. After your celebration, you may wonder why you received a stripe while the training partners that started at the same time did not. The reality is your Professor is the deciding factor on promotions and there isn’t a set standard for when stripes and belts are given. Every student is different and have diverse strengths and weaknesses for deciding promotions; however, there are factors that can help you move up. The amount of time you have trained, previous experience, natural ability, training frequency, and the age of the student. There’s even a flip side to this, for competitors, your professor may want to slow that student down to gain more competition experience at that belt level. The best thing to do in this situation is to not worry about who receives their promotions when, but to keep training hard and learning. Be happy for your teammates when they are promoted and stay focused on getting better, not stripes.
