Here at Ivey League MMA, BJJ Yellow Belt promotions are pretty rare. All of our kids know just how difficult it can be to receive a solid yellow belt. Many times it takes over 5 years.
Because of this, when we do a BJJ belt promotion it’s a really big deal. Well last night we had a promotion for a very special young man. His name is Robert “Bicep” Mish and he was promoted to BJJ yellow belt last night by me (Danny Ives).
Bicep is one of the best and most helpful kids we’ve ever had the pleasure of training. He’s been taking martial arts classes with us for over 3 years. He’s viewed very much as a team leader and role modal here at Ivey League.
He’s also been very active on the kids tournament scene, winning many medals including a bunch of golds.
In fact, less then a month ago he brought back a silver medal from the prestigious Pan Kids BJJ Championships in California.
One of the reasons he did so well is his super pin point technique. He’s by far one of our most technical kids on the mat. I’m pretty sure these isn’t much he doesn’t know or understand about MMA.
He’s always asking questions and studying the latest moves. I often call him the encyclopedia of mixed martial arts.
His division was one of the toughest at the whole event. And although he didn’t win gold, he still wowed everyone with his toughness and skill. Everyone was talking about Bicep and how amazing he looked out there.
We were so proud of him after Pan Kids and at that point we knew that a promotion to yellow belt was in order. To be honest, We’d have promoted him sooner but due to scheduling conflicts with Miss Linda…it got pushed back to last night 🙂
So for me to promote him to yellow belt is a moment I’ll never forget. Oh and since everyone always asks me about his nickname, let me take a second to tell the full story.
The Bicep Nickname Story
Robert got this nickname because when he first came to Ivey League, he wasn’t super built like he is now. You know, just a normal kid. Well after about 6 months of training that all changed. Little Robert was getting some (a lot) muscle and became much stronger.
So this one day during summer camp, Me and my wife walked in while he was getting warmed up for class and both of us were like, dude, Robert’s got some muscles now!
That same day I jokingly said to her that he’s like a walking Bicep muscle. That was it. From that point on I started to call him Bicep, and It’s been that way ever since. I called him Bicep so much that I actually forgot his first name…no lie.
An Amazing Night Indeed
Bicep’s whole family and a bunch of friends all came out to see him get promoted. After the promotion the kids got a chance to break in the new yellow belt via lots of live rolling and a game of sharks and minnows.
Oh and I should mention that Bicep’s Mom was kind enough to make brownies for all of us to enjoy…although I didn’t get one! The kids beat me to it.
So not only do we have a new yellow belt in town, I should also point out that Bicep is also the youngest yellow belt promotion in Ivey League history.
Congrats again to a great young man who comes from an amazing family. Well earned son 🙂
