Purple Belts Teaching

[Moe]

Iasked earlier if anyone had info on Jerry Brewer, he is the rep here in Charleston for Relson Gracie so my question is two parts and any help would be great.
1. is a purple belt qualified to teach a class unsupervised and do thet have depth of technique?

2. its been written on this board a few times that certain Gracie factions do not stay updated on new techniques ....can anyone offer information on relson Gracie and if he is progressive ?

i could use the help on this ,i want my BJJ experience to be a positive and learning one.
thanks to all who answer.

[AKF]

Hey Moe,

Great questions!

With reference to the purple belt concern you have, I will add my two cents by saying this. So long as the purple belt was taught at a very reputable school (because good schools don't give purple belts away) I feel that purple belts are certainly qualified to teach. I take classes at a school whose primary instructor is a brown belt, but several of the classes are taught by purple belts. I learn A TON from these guys! Especially if you are a white belt, purple belts are great technitions (I say especially if you are a white belt because the difference in skill between a white and purple belt is HUGE).

Hope this helps.

[MadMax]

In general I think purples make great teachers. Also Relson is definitely legit, and if this guy received his purple from Relson you should be good to go.

Max

[terry]

I don't know about Relson's guys, but I'm thankful for the purple belts at Ralph's school. A lot of the brown and black belts are so much into their own competitive fight training that they don't put much energy into teaching. Conversely, the purple belts are sometimes the guys that you get the most help from.

Terry

[321Full Contact]

I know Jerry and have trained with him, and yes he is absolutely qualified to teach and he has a great depth of knowledge about BJJ.

Relson Gracie is probably the most progressive of the entire Helio Gracie family. He is always keeping up to date on the latest techniques coming out of Brazil, learning them and deviseing new ways to beat those new techniques.

I would definately recommend training with Jerry. He is an awesome purple belt and Relson does not give his belts lightly. You have to put your time in and Earn them.
Plus, Jerry is a super nice guy.