What turned Saulo Ribeiro into the Saulo Ribeiro we all know and love today, according to him, was the time he spent as brown belt training with Rickson Gracie. This is how he describes the experience:
Saulo: A very curious thing is that I usually got beat until my brown belt. That was when I really started to win. All those previous belts, I was really bad. And I wasn't able to get (good) performance.
Interviewer: So you didn't make that true jump until you were a brown belt?
Saulo: Yes. Until brown belt, I was just a tough guy.
Interviewer: Your learning was just going on and going on until you reached brown belt when it took a spike upward?
Saulo: Oh yes, definitely. That's when I was when I was blessed with the opportunity to stay with Rickson for a couple of months who was the guy who in my opinion gave me a lot of direction in mental aspects that I hadn't heard before. And since I incorporated that in my attitude, in my training, my skills changed to a whole new direction.
This kind of thing is more than music to my ears. In another post, I noted how it was the opinion of Alliance leader Fabio Gurgel that, "by purple belt, champions make their presence felt." Saulo's experience suggests that this is not necessarily so.
It's also got me thinking about the possibility of making my own "spike upward" now that I'm five years into jiu jitsu and looking to make the journey to faixa preta. Competing at the Pan in 2011 is certainly something I'm thinking about (though 2011 could find me on the other side of the country at about that time). But I'm thinking about something that will really catapult my jiu jitsu to the level where I think it could be, where I want it to be.
I'm going to spend August fishing around for that something special, with the hope of finding it - and pursuing it - come September. I've got a few ideas. But nothing settled yet.
