I went to a seminar this past weekend, given by a very public figure in BJJ around the world. He is a second or third degree black belt, runs a world-famous academy in southern California, and is a relentless advocate for his family's brand of jiu jitsu and way of life. I won't name him, though if you do minor research, it won't be hard to figure out.
I was disappointed in the seminar. One session was about side mount, and the second was about triangle. Neither went that deep into the position or strategies and philosophies around it. I think part of the reason was that the hosting academy is new, and it's full of white belts and some blue belts. As a blue myself, I hesitate to cast aspersions on others who hold the same rank, but looking around the room at some people moving around and drilling, I don't think many of them would have been blue belts at other academies. So that's my snarkiness for the day.
I went on my own, and no one I knew did the seminar. it was a room full of strangers. The effect of that, though, is that my partner was always someone who I didn't know---which is more than fine---and who either doesn't pay as close attention to technique as I do (first session) or simply doesn't normally practice jiu jitsu (second session). So I felt like I ended up re-teaching the techniques once we started drilling them, which seemed to be wasted time.
If nothing else, it gave me still more confidence in my home academy, and in my instructors methods and philosophy. Exactly what I need---more reason to feel quietly superior.
I must say, I got here from some other blog and have read everything from the most recent to this post and I agree/love everything you're talking about. As having been doing jiu jitsu for almost 2 years, I feel a definite sense of kinship. Keep writing, sir. Better still, keep training.
ReplyDelete