{"id":19225,"date":"2023-05-13T09:43:05","date_gmt":"2023-05-13T14:43:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rollingaroundbjj.com\/?p=19225"},"modified":"2023-07-01T11:44:25","modified_gmt":"2023-07-01T16:44:25","slug":"sandbagging-meaning-bjj","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rollingaroundbjj.com\/sandbagging-meaning-bjj\/","title":{"rendered":"Sandbagging Meaning In BJJ (Why Do People Do IT?)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
Where there are rules, there will be people trying to exploit them. As much as martial arts are an honorable pursuit, winning medals and trophies is daunting, and shady tactics are often used. One of the words people in the BJJ competition scene like to use to accuse someone of having an unfair advantage is sandbagging, but what does it mean?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sandbagging in BJJ refers to the practice of entering competitions at a lower skill level than the actual one to increase the chance of winning. This is often done by coaches and professors who deliberately don’t promote strong competitors, so they compete at a certain belt level longer, even if they are ready for promotion.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Sandbagging in grappling is a complicated topic with many conflicting opinions and takes on it. Everyone has their take on something like this, so here is what we at Rolling Around BJJ have to say about it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sandbagging is a common practice across many fields. It means misrepresenting one’s abilities to gain an advantage. It is a form of deception where you lower people’s expectations for personal gain. <\/p>\n\n\n\n For example, it is used in business to deliberately reduce the predicted income, so when the actual results come up, the shareholders are much happier with the overperformance. Bluffing in poker is a perfect example of sandbagging, but it’s just part of the game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But how does this translate to BJJ? A sandbagger in BJJ is a person who deliberately competes at a lower level to have a much higher chance of winning a medal. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n BJJ tournaments<\/a> separate competitors according to their belt color and weight classes to ensure even and competitive matches. Pitting a black belt against a white belt makes no sense because the black belt will obliterate the white belt. This is why the belt system is used to ensure fair play.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But this system also creates a lot of problems. A person whose skill is higher than the rank he is at can be considered a sandbagger, but this can be very subjective. <\/strong>Most people spend between 2 and 3 years between belt promotions, which may create a huge gap in skills at the same rank. <\/p>\n\n\n\n You can have a fresh blue belt<\/a> with a year and a half of BJJ experience and a guy just on the brink of a purple belt<\/a> with 5 or 6 years in the game, and it’s normal for them to be at entirely different levels despite the same belt color they compete at.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Many like to accuse academies of not promoting guys to have them win more medals for the academy and only elevate competitors to the next level when they have a chance of being on the podium at the next rank.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For instance, it’s not uncommon for big-name schools to not promote a brown belt to a black belt until he wins some international tournaments like the Pan-American or World Championships. <\/p>\n\n\n\n When such a guy enters a local tournament, he wipes out the competition. Some people believe this is outright sandbagging; others find it a normal path for someone with world-class aspirations.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Furthermore, some people train like professionals, even at blue or purple belts, and it\u2019s completely normal for them to beat with ease other blue or purple belts who train 3\u20134 times a week. Is this sandbagging? No. It’s just that this person is training a hell of a lot more than the other guys.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Many young guys have decided to become gym rats, devote their entire lives to jiu-jitsu, and train like maniacs. If such a guy is a world-class competitor at blue or purple belt, it’s normal for him to demolish not only those in his rank but even non-competitive brown and black belts. These guys are not cheating when they compete at the rank they are at.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sandbagging is also very rarely the choice of the competitor. Belt promotions are decided solely by the coach or professor at the academy, and tournament success is far from the only criterion. <\/p>\n\n\n\n You cannot blame a person who wins all the tournaments at a belt rank for his success just because his coach hasn’t decided to promote him to the next rank.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So, sandbagging in the IBJJF scene is a complicated topic and highly subjective.<\/p>\n\n\n\nWhat Is Sandbagging?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Is Sandbagging In BJJ Cheating?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n