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Affiliation · De La Riva lineage

A black belt in your corner, and a rank that lasts

Affiliation with Knots & Collar is guidance first — a working curriculum shaped around your room, coaching support whenever you need it, and a call every fifty days about the real business of running a school. And when your students are ready, they earn rank in a lineage that can be traced and verified: Grandmaster Ricardo de la Riva → Professor Waqar Ahmad → Professor Binish Sukhija.

Start the conversation
First · Guidance & learning

A black belt in your corner

Before rank, before anything, affiliation is a coach you can call. Running an academy is lonely work, and most of its problems have already been solved by someone willing to tell you how — seventeen years of it, to draw on directly.

A working curriculum

The full Knots & Collar curriculum — the position roadmap from survival to escapes to transitions to submissions, mapped across every major position, with class structures and testing criteria. Shaped around your timetable, your class sizes and the level of your students, with class notes and breakdowns including material we do not publish.

Coaching & coach development

Teaching a technique well is a separate skill from performing it, and we work on it with you directly. A question about a student, a technique, or a difficult situation in your room — you always have someone to ask.

A call every fifty days

A one-hour video call every fifty days, alternating between instruction — curriculum, testing readiness, teaching problems — and the ordinary business of running a school: retention, student experience, class structure.

A method proven daily

Not theory. A studio running seven days a week since 2021 — Gi, No-Gi, kids from age three, women’s, corporate and forces — refined against real students and built around the hardest case: the nervous beginner. Kindness Over Toughness.

Second · Rank & promotions

And a rank that lasts

You may have students who cannot be promoted by anyone. Affiliation fixes that — a student promoted under this lineage holds a rank that stands anywhere in the world: at a federation event, at a foreign academy, twenty years from now when they teach students of their own.

A verified black belt lineage

Choose an affiliation on evidence

Nothing about our lineage asks you to take our word for it — promotion date, place and photographs are published and independently checkable.

Ricardo de la RivaGrandmasterWaqar AhmadProfessorBinish SukhijaProfessor · Black Belt
A chain of people who each earned the right to promote the next

Promotion & certification

  • Promotions under a verified black belt in the De La Riva lineage.
  • Quarterly testing visits — four a year, and only when a student is ready.
  • Certificates issued by Knots & Collar, signed and carrying the full lineage.
  • Your recommendation is heard on every promotion — you know your students.

For you and your coaches

  • An instructor pathway — a route for you and your coaches to progress in rank and in teaching qualification, over time and on merit.
  • Rank properly issued is permanent. A student who earned a promotion keeps it — their rank was never contingent on a business relationship between two schools.
  • Certificates carry the full lineage, so any rank you award can be traced and verified by anyone, anywhere.
And with it

Community, equipment and visibility

Cross-training & community

  • Mat access at Knots & Collar at a reserved affiliate rate for your members and coaches.
  • Seminars and visiting professors at preferential rates.
  • KC Manthan, our annual residential retreat, at an affiliate discount.
  • Competition support — corner coaching and team presence where schedules allow.

Equipment & visibility

  • Wholesale uniforms and equipment — you set your retail price and keep the margin.
  • A dedicated page for your school on knotsandcollar.com, with reciprocal links.
  • Referrals from your catchment area directed to you.
  • Use of the affiliation mark on your signage and materials.
Your independence

You are an affiliate, not a franchisee

We are not buying into your business and we do not want to run it. We certify your rank pathway and support your instruction. Everything else stays yours.

Your brandYour own name, identity, dress code and uniform colours.
Your businessYour pricing, membership structure and every business decision.
Your teamYour instructors, your hiring, your staffing.
Your premisesYour operations and administration, run your way.
Your revenueIn full. No royalty, no revenue share, no access to your accounts.
The standard

A lineage is worth what its weakest link is worth

None of this is restriction for its own sake. Your students’ rank has value only if every rank issued under this affiliation is honest — so the standard is real, and we hold ourselves to exactly the same one.

Rank integrity

No rank is awarded except by Professor Sukhija — no self-promotion, no exceptions. Attendance alone never earns a promotion.

Teaching & safety

Supervised sparring at appropriate intensity, beginners never in unsafe pairings, age-appropriate kids’ classes, and clear hygiene and first-aid standards.

Safeguarding

A direct, confidential channel for your students and parents, and a zero-tolerance line on misconduct — the same line we hold ourselves to.

Quality assurance

A simple curriculum log and occasional visits — we check what was taught, never how. Your instructors keep complete freedom in their method, pace and style.

How it works

From first conversation to first promotion

  1. Start the conversation. Tell us about your school, and come back with every question — an affiliation that begins with unspoken doubts does not last.
  2. A visit, both ways. We come to you; you come to Defence Colony. We watch each other teach. This matters more than any document.
  3. Agree the details. Testing schedule, insurance, merchandise minimums and the first testing visit — including terms, once we know your school.
  4. Legal review. The agreement is drafted by our advocate; you should have your own advocate read it before signing.
  5. Onboarding begins. Curriculum handover, your affiliate page built, the feedback channel installed, and your first support call and testing visit scheduled.
Start the conversation

Tell us about your school

We are not looking for many affiliates — a small number of schools that teach honestly, treat beginners well, and want their students’ rank to mean something in twenty years. If that is the school you run, we would be glad to hear from you.

Questions

What schools ask first

What does affiliating with Knots & Collar actually include?
Guidance first: the full curriculum — a position roadmap from survival through escapes and transitions to submissions — shaped around your timetable and your students, coach development, and a one-hour call every fifty days covering both instruction and the business of running a school. Then rank: your students become eligible for promotion under a verified black belt, with quarterly testing visits.
Do I keep my own brand, pricing and instructors?
Yes. You are an affiliate, not a franchisee. You keep your name and identity, your dress code and uniform colours, your pricing and membership structure, your instructors and hiring, your premises, and your revenue in full. There is no royalty, no revenue share and no access to your accounts.
Who promotes my students?
Professor Binish Sukhija, on quarterly testing visits — four opportunities a year, and only when a student is ready. Your recommendation carries real weight because you know your students, and final authority rests with Professor Sukhija so that every rank issued under the lineage is consistent.
Is the lineage verifiable?
Yes, and that is the point. The chain runs Grandmaster Ricardo de la Riva to Professor Waqar Ahmad to Professor Binish Sukhija, with promotion date, place and photographs published. A rank issued under it can be traced and checked by anyone, anywhere.
What does affiliation cost?
Terms are discussed once we know your school — after the first conversation and a visit both ways. The fee is the same for every affiliate school and does not vary by size or city, and there is no royalty or share of your revenue.
Do you affiliate schools outside Delhi?
Yes. We work with schools across India. Testing visits and support calls are scheduled around both parties, and the first conversation is always a visit in each direction before anything is agreed.

Training at our own studio instead? See our programmes.