Let me as a mild and few-worded (not true actually) Nordic/Eastern European person point out the obvious: Likely, everyone's around you (including your own) life would be more pleasant and easier, if James, you'd be a person who considers and expresses care towards other people and their perspectives more. Now, Beltchecker forums would be less entertaining for sure. You seem to be motivated by perceived challenges, competition and conflict overall. So maybe you need that type of stimulation in your life. That's fine. Please just don't cause unnecessary harm to people who enter into interactions with you without same mindset and possibly lacking resiliency.

Lineage is important to know for many nerds like me who believe history is important to know. I think for some people they want to get as close to the source as possible, for others they just want to be connected with the history and the team, and lastly some people want to be certified by an instructor with a stellar reputation. I already am excited for everybody who trains JiuJitsu, but if you tell me you’re a student of Marcello, Terere, Roger, or another BJJ celebrity I’d be pretty excited for you because I love those guys. My lineage is Carson Gracie Sr > Rodrigo Medeiros > Me

I always felt the whole lineage praising culture was kind of weird. If I take my own students, some of them are super talented and medal at big tournaments. Some of them are blue belts for 10 years and lose first match in every single competition. Some of them copy my game to the detail, some go their own way and develop completely distinct style. I dont see why they should get anything out of saying I’m their lineage, when so many other factors play in. An important point to consider of course, is that this is kind of unique to jiu jitsu. Why don’t golfers, tennis players, table tennis players, cyclists and marathon runner talk about their lineage like jiu jitsu people do? It’s weird. Just weird.

I was told in the 90s it was to show the legitimacy of your claimed blackbelt. Maybe because the art was so new to the United States, they were trying to preserve the art before blackbelts popped up all over without credential. Who knows haha

Connor MacLeod -> Clan MacLeod.

Let me as a mild and few-worded (not true actually) Nordic/Eastern European person point out the obvious: Likely, everyone's around you (including your own) life would be more pleasant and easier, if James, you'd be a person who considers and expresses care towards other people and their perspectives more. Now, Beltchecker forums would be less entertaining for sure. You seem to be motivated by perceived challenges, competition and conflict overall. So maybe you need that type of stimulation in your life. That's fine. Please just don't cause unnecessary harm to people who enter into interactions with you without same mindset and possibly lacking resiliency.

This makes a lot of sense. 'Lineage' is basically the simplest form of Beltchecker :D

Ended up looking into this because my instructor promoted his first Black Belts after 7 years of being a Black Belt himself. Where I train at is not very ritualistically traditional (no habit of bowing at door or mat, no rank filing to meditate at a portrait, etc...) as a dojo; probably described as 'very Americanized'... but still interesting to see where it all comes from. Mitsuyo Maeda → Carlos Gracie Sr. → Hélio Gracie → Rolls Gracie & Carlos Gracie Jr → Rigan Machado → Chris Haueter → Eric Hemphill → Josh Botkin

This makes a lot of sense. 'Lineage' is basically the simplest form of Beltchecker :D

A very clean and widely trusted lineage which I've been loyal to since I first started training in 1996

Something rubs me the wrong way about saying 'my lineage is very clean' :D :D

Still need a few votes for verification Lineage 1: Luis França > Oswaldo Fadda > Monir Salomão > Júlio César Pereira > Dante Leon> Logan Haselman> Me Lineage 2: C. Gracie > Helio Gracie > Carlos Gracie Jr > Adilson Lima > Vitor Oliveira > Dante Leon > Logan Haselman> Me