A few months ago I talked a friend of mine into starting jiu-jitsu. Brand new white belt. Good attitude. Some kickboxing experience, zero but scooting knowledge lol Whenever we rolled, I made a deliberate choice about how I approached those rounds with him. I didn’t try to “win the round.” I lost most scrambles because of how deliberate I was moving. (Basically how I tell all coaches to roll with new people) Instead, I rolled slowly and methodically. I’d work my way through the positions step by step. I would usually let him get to a dominant position and begin to attack... the id would Escape. Reverse or sweep. Pass the guard. Stabilise. Climb to mount. And then eventually finish with either a rear naked choke or (but my main priority) a head-and-arm triangle from mount. AKA; how jiu jitsu should look when rolling with and untrained person. Not because it’s the only thing I can do, but because when you’re rolling with someone new, consistency teaches far more than variety. I recorded a one of our rounds and did a voiceover here https://youtu.be/5dcaXQUH9uM (no subs in this because submissions are to distracting for people in the first stages of JJ learning) Recently he messaged me from another country. He had his first roll at a new academy. He told me he hit his first submission in a live round, you guessed it, a clean head-and-arm triangle. He was absolutely buzzing but not as much as i was, if you have tried to teach a head arm triangle to somebody for the first time you will know what I mean. For him it wasn’t just a submission. It was proof that the training was working. Proof that he was working towards his goals. A lot of the most important things in jiu-jitsu can’t be fully explained in a class. You can show a technique 10 times and make sure they know EXACTLY what you mean... even have them drilling it to perfection... But the small details ... the pressure the timing the patience the way your weight moves through the position, those things are felt, not just taught. (one of the benefits of CLA games but i digress)

For its fishing ability

In case you missed it, I chat to Anna about the black belts in martial arts as well as keeping the meaning of belts.....

The long game grappler #2

When we start coaching JJ we tend to believe we need to be able to "beat" all of our students, otherwise why would they listen to us right? WRONG. As a matter of fact that mentality will flow into your students and then everyone will try to "win" every round or game, this inhibits ability to learn and makes injuries more likely. Hard rolling is great for competition preparation but it MUST be done with the right training partners. If all the rolls are "to the death" with submissions being the aim it will scare off all the smaller men and women. 95% of your training should be measured and controlled with focus on efficiency, timing and technique. The easy way to know for sure is at least 10% of the mat is women.