Some people involved in Sombo/Sambo
criticise the British Sombo Federation for recognising our affiliated
association having gradings similar to Martial Arts. They maintain true Sambo
does not have such schemes.
Well they are wrong. When the
International Amateur Sambo Federation was formed in 1985 they had a grading
system recorded in their License book but they named the grades after animals
such as the Jaguar. I still have my original FIAS license book and I am the only
person in Great Britain who has been active in Sombo/Sambo since its formation.
This scheme was dropped after just a
few years and a modified version was that if you won a National Title you could
wear a Black with National Colours i.e. Black Belt with a Union Flag if you won
the British, the BSF never adopted this system because to equate someone who
won a British with someone who won the Soviet Union Championship was
ridiculous.
So it was agreed that those
associations who wished to adopt a grading system could do so as long as it was
vetted by the BSF. Most Sombo Players have not bothered because we still
believe it is a competitive sport and your prowess is shown on the Mat but it
useful to encourage new students and to keep people involved who are passed
their prime or cannot compete because of injury.
There was also a Belt system for
World Championship competitors: Gold Belt was presented to the World Senior
Champion, Silver Belt for Silver medallist and Bronze Belt for Bronze medallist.
A World Masters Champion was entitled to wear a Bronze Belt and a Grand Master
was allowed a Gold belt.
Grand Master is a FIAS appointment.
I am proud to say that I am entitled
to wear a Silver Belt for World
Championship Silver 1986 and a Gold Belt, as I am the only FIAS Grand master in
the UK. Sadly the system is no longer in operation and the only time I actually
saw a presentation of Belts was in a banquet at the World Championships in 1985
San Sebastian Spain where at the banquet each World Medallist was presented
with their relative Belt, something I would like restored.
CombatSombo, this style, was
developed by me, Martin Clarke, and is a registered Service Mark and has been
for over 20 years and I do organise gradings in CombatSombo, SportCombatSombo,
CombatSombo Wrestling and Sombo all of which are very successful. Not
only do players in Great Britain grade but Countries as far and wide as USA,
Canada, Australia and South Africa have used my system and because the system
is mine I can check the authenticity of every CombatSombo Black Belt and so can
you - if they do not have my signature and stamp on their license or
certificate they do not hold any CombatSombo Grade.
Combat Sambo is a totally different
Sport involving grappling and full contact striking, it is mainly practised in
Eastern European Countries. Russian Martial Arts is administered in Great Britain
by Matthew Clempner President of FORMA.
