Proposal of a belt system for guiding new ps communities
Right now, the Spanish-speaking pen spinning community is growing very fast, and I've been wondering about a good way of guiding progress when there are 5 experienced spinners and hundreds of newcomers. For this matter, a belt system was a very nice of going about it. It's been very successful in martial arts, but what really sells me off is how successful it has been in lockpicking:
https://old.reddit.com/r/lockpicking/wiki/beltranking
Before we jump right into it, let me address some important points:
My intentions with this belt system
The idea is to make a ladder that new spinners can see, easily understand and get to work to climb. In a similar way to Megas' trick learning order, oversimplifying pen spinning for the sake of ease of guidance can be very positive. Otherwise, we have a ton of new spinners asking "what to do now", "what do I do after x", or just losing motivation to continue spinning altogether since they can't come up with any immediate next goal by themselves.
What this belt system isn't
I don't want this to be a way to rank spinners. Far from JEB's tier lists, in this belt system most experienced spinners are just lumped together at the last 2 levels because, once it comes to that point, they don't need this kind of guidance. The belt system should be a learning tool, while also providing role models for newcomers. In a trick learning order list, newbies don't see those who can do hai tua or ayatori trick as role models, while here, the last ranks are so distant and over the top that a black belt spinner could very well be a community role model.
How this is implemented
There is a discord server, so there would be a channel with explanations and guidance for each of the belts. Users can post their entries in that channel, and then community helpers & staff can verify and give them the belt. The belt can be shown as a role on the server.
What I want with this post
This hasn't been implemented yet, but I want to do so once it's more polished. I want other spinners to give feedback based on the aforementioned criteria: making it didactic for new spinners and softening it as much as possible so it's not seen as a way to evaluate who's better than who.
The belts
There are 9 belts in this system. The first 6 are meant to be easily obtainable, while by the time that you reach the last 3 you just don't need the belt system any more (and thus the gaps between the levels get much wider).
1 - White belt
Requirements: Being able to do all fundamentals (charge,
sonic, fingerpass, TA, infinity). No need to link them, just doing them all in a video.
2 - Yellow belt
Requirements: Filming a combo/freestyle of at least 7 seconds with the following characteristics:
At least two basic tricks: backaround, extended TA, neosonic, ...
At least one reverse fundamental: charge rev, sonic rev, fp rev, TA rev, infinity rev
3 - Orange belt
Requirements: Filming a combo/freestyle of at least 15 seconds with the following characteristics:
At least two intermediate/confirmed tricks: warped sonic, bust, shadow…
At least one sonic hybrid: demons sonic, angel sonic, in-out sonic, out-in sonic…
4 - Green belt
Requirements: Filming a combo/freestyle of at least 15 seconds with the following characteristics:
At least two advanced tricks: flush sonic, bakfall, side sonic, bust 1.5, ...
At least two reverse intermediate/confirmed tricks: warped sonic reverse, shadow reverse…
The combo should have no major execution errors.
Criteria for blue belt onwards
For the previous belts (white-green), spinners could apply for any of them without going through the easier belts. To apply for the following belts, at least green belt is needed.
There are two routes to obtain each of these belts, to account for the two biggest modalities in pen spinning: CV and tournaments. Requirements shall be passed just for one of the modalities, not for all of them. It's up to the community to distinguish the belts from each modality or to consider them all the same.
What counts as a CV participation?
For the purposes of the belts, a CV participation means submitting a combo and being selected for a collaboration video organized by another spinner. Except for blue belt, valid collaboration videos are only those who have a filter (a selection process is conducted by the editor).
International CV - For the purposes of the belts, an international CV means either a CV organized by a member of another community, or a CV organized by members of your own board with some participants from other community.
What counts as a tournament participation?
For the purposes of the belts, a tournament is any event with more than 10 participants and at least 1 experienced judge for which combos are sent and evaluated. For valid non-world level tournaments, there is a minimum requirement of two rounds. The organizer can also participate in the tournament, but judges can't participate in the same tournament that they are judging.
National tournament - For the purposes of the belts, a national tournament refers to a board-wide or nation-wide tournament with a high enough level: most of the active experienced spinners on the community participate. Beginner or intermediate-level tournaments, or tournaments in which only a relatively small part of active spinners participate won't be considered national tournaments.
5 - Blue belt
CV route requirements: Participation in any CV (even without filter).
Tournament route requirements: Participation in any tournament.
6 - Purple belt
CV route requirements: Participation in three CVs and organizing one.
7 - Brown belt
CV route requirements: Participation in at least 7 CVs and organizing at least one international CV. Editing a promo video or one solo video of another spinner. Writing a blog post explaining the style that you're pursuing and commenting some of your reference spinners.
Tournament route requirements: Top 4 in at least one tournament. Having written at least one blog post analyzing the aspects that you seek in technical spinning and commenting some of your reference spinners.
8 - Red belt
CV route requirements: Participation in at least 20 CVs, with more than 10 of them being international. Making an official solo video with some previously unreleased combos.
Tournament route requirements: Having judged one national tournament. In addition to that, one of the following three:
One round won in either WT, WC or PSO
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Winning a national tournament.
9 - Black belt
CV route requirements: Participating in at least 30 international CVs.
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