The Power of a Positive Word

Bobby pictured on the right

"Steve I wholeheartedly believe that you are going to be a really good purple belt one day."

When I started JiuJitsu I was terrible at it. I was a nerdy kid that grew up building computers, playing Starcraft online and had never played a sport in my life. Balance and any type of grace were far from anything that I possessed.

When I resumed training at Cornerstone Brazilian JiuJitsu I had been working as a lumberjack and power-lifting in the evenings. The only submission that I could pull of was muscling my way into an Americana. Class consisted of me being tapped out over and over again while struggling to make sense of the whole JiuJitsu thing.

Bobby was a purple belt from Colorado Springs that was visiting FT. Bragg for a cool guy Army school and trained at Cornerstone for 2 weeks during his stay. At the time when blue belt seemed an eternity away, purple belts were wizards to me. This guy that was older and significantly smaller than me would politely submit me over and over again with ease. He was part of a community in the Army that I dreamed about being apart of, and I just really looked up to, and admired him. I would also say that our conversations and interactions is what really planted the seed for wanting to travel and visit new schools.

After a training session Bobby said that earlier quote to me 3 years ago. Those words meant the world to me. Being a white belt is tough. You get beat up every class that you go into and there is a steep learning curve. I held on to those word because I believed him. I wanted to prove him right, and I would remind myself of them during the tough white belt days.

I always hopped that Bobby would come back to visit one day, and I still hope that we get to cross paths again at some point in the future. 3 years later though I can look back on that comment and see the impact that it had on me. If you are an upper belt there is always someone that is looking up to you. Of course everyone wants to be a black belt one day, but that is such a far away goal that at white belt we often look at the blue and purple belts to see who we want to emulate. Never underestimate how much of a difference a compliment can go for someone because it made a world of difference for me.

About the Author:

Steven McMahon earned his Kyuki-Do Black Belt in 2011 from Grand Master Kim at Kim's Black Belt Academy and his  BJJ Purple Belt in January 2017 under Professor Charles Nunley. He trains out of Cornerstone BJJ in Fayetteville, NC. He is an active competitor at Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and Army Combatives tournaments.