After months, and in some cases years, of hard work, it was time for some of Team Third Law’s students to move up in the ranks recently during a belt adjustment ceremony.
Headlining the evening were three students who were promoted to Blue Belt, an achievement that is hard to understand if you’re not on the mats training every day.
Theresa, Tori and Rudy received blue belts, along with the gift of a bottle of Dom Perignon to celebrate the accomplishment. A lot of hard work was put in by all three, training in the basics and advanced classes, doing competitions and balancing work, family and other responsibilities.
We like to think of the blue belt as an undergraduate degree in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu — it takes years of hard work and study.
Rudy is the father of two Black Belt Club students, Aleah and Rudy Jr. and the husband of Kristela. Their whole family does jiu jitsu together, and they were all there to celebrate the accomplishment with him.
He has been training for more than three years, and known for being a top-pressure, smashing machine on the mats. He has also competed, bringing home medals from NAGA and the Miami Open.
Tori originally came to the school looking for summer camp for her niece and nephew, and then decided to try the school out for herself. That was two and a half years ago, and now she dedicates her time to training both jiu jitsu and Muay Thai.
A competitor, Tori recently competed in the Miami International Open. She had placed second in her last two international tournaments, and this time she was determined to get the gold. She accomplished that goal, defeating the same opponent twice in a round-robin division and winning her white belt adult middle heavy weight division.
Theresa originally heard about Team Third Law from one of the school’s first families — Michele, wife of Robert, who is a purple belt and one of Master Roberto’s first students in Naples. Michele is Theresa’s boss, and suggested she give Team Third Law a try.
A year and eight months later, Theresa won a gold medal in her white belt adult lightweight division at the Miami Open, defeating four other women along the way. Last year, the Miami Open was her first jiu jitsu tournament ever, and since then, she also won gold at the Boca Raton Open and Atlanta Open.
Along with the blue belts, many other students were recognized and received new belts at the ceremony.
Rebecca and Andy were both promoted to green belt. Kenny, Al, Katie, Stan, Judd and Noah received orange belts, and Michael and Tim received yellow belts. Some other students who weren’t able to make it will also be “adjusted” in the coming weeks, but they shall remain anonymous so we don’t spoil the surprise!
Congratulations to all.
