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Re: Would You Train Under A "No Rank" Sensei?
This is a problem unique to non-competitive martial arts.
In competitive arts, this problem does not exist.
How did I pick a boxing coach? There are no black belts in boxing. There are no teaching certificates that say this man is a master boxing coach.
No I looked at his fight experience. Then I looked at his students fight experience. The guy was producing winning competitors, and was well recommended by locals. Good enough for me.
How did I pick my bjj coach? When I started training with him he was 'only' a brown belt. Coming from traditional martial arts, a brown belt wasn't that impressive. But his students were winning MMA matches and his guys that were 'only' blue belts (hell even most of the white belts) cleaned my clock. There was no question this guy had stuff to teach me.
I recently started teaching a martial arts club (submission grappling) at the college where I work. I'm 'only' a brown belt in judo and a blue belt in bjj. I've given up on judo for political reasons, but I'm still an active practitioner and competitor in bjj. I've seen some guys question my authority the first time they come in. But their experience rolling with me quickly clears up any questions as to my level of experience.
So to bring this back into prospective, how do you really honestly know your instructor is good at a non-competive martial art? Simply put, you can't. All you can have is faith. Having a black belt around your waist will no doubt jump start that faith.
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