It's Not a Break

I’m an old guy who has been long-retired from a very-rewarding career teaching high school students.

It’s funny how everybody thinks they have a pretty good understanding about teaching. This is probably because everybody has spent many years in the school system as students.

It’s both amusing and annoying how wrong they are.

I concede that they probably do know how to recognize strong direct teaching.

Let’s look at a very specific example of direct teaching.

You are attending an evening Jiu-Jitsu class. The instructor calls the group together, and explain what will be covered in the lesson. He then demonstrates the first part of the material with a partner. He does this several times, from different angles, and points out all of the non-obvious movements.

He then sends the group off to partner up and work on that first slice of the material.

After a while, he calls the group back in and explains and demonstrates the next slice. The class goes off to work and drill again.

This is repeated until the material has all been covered, and practiced. Typically, a Jiu-Jitsu class lasts an hour. After that the group breaks apart into those who are heading directly home, and those that want to free-roll, or to work with a partner.

Probably half of the class-time hour is direct instruction and the other half of the time the students are trying to master the material in pairs.

I contend that it is the job of the teacher to have as many of his students as possible learning as much as is they can for every moment of the class. To do this he needs to be working during the practice time.

Let’s assume that the instructor is absolutely wonderful at direct teaching, and that while they are explaining and demonstrating every student is fully engaged and paying complete attention to every second. Full marks for that teacher for half of the class time. What about the other half?

During practice time students display a lot of different styles.

Some want to chat for a while with their partner before getting to work; perhaps about the move, but often about something else altogether.

Others get right down to work, but never seem to do more than a two or three repetitions of the move. They then sit about waiting for the call back for the next demonstration.

Others get promptly down to work, and keep doing repetitions right up until the callback.

It is the teacher’s responsibility to get students of type one or two to work more like those of type three.

The practice segments are usually each around five minutes long. It isn’t like anybody will be getting really tired drilling the technique. Even if they are, they will be resting during next demonstration very soon.

So what should the instructor be doing?

The first thing is that they should not be acting as if it is a time for the teacher to be on a break. They should not leave the training area, or hanging off on the side chatting with cronies.

They should find a pair who is getting promptly to work, and intently watch them from just a few feet away. If they are doing OK, the shouldn’t do anything to interfere. Likely there are a dozen things the students could be doing somewhat better, but this is not a time for interfering. If they are not “getting” it at all or if they ask for help then certainly the instructor should jump in. As long as they are good enough, he should watch for a short time, and then move on to another pair.

If he intently watches you practice, and then moves on without interfering, it can be the greatest morale boost ever. I’ve seen students high-five each other when an instructor who supervises this way has wordlessly moved on.

This kind of teaching method also gets students to work. If the teacher hits a group that isn’t practicing, he stares at them for a short time. Under the instructor's gaze, almost every group rapidly gets going on serous practice. If they don’t, he watches then for maybe 20 seconds, and then moves on to the next student pair. It’s like he has just said that they wasted his time and that they also wasted their own.

When using this tactic an entire class is soon in a pattern of getting starting quickly, and continuing right up until they get called back for the next demo. Nobody starts slow or slacks off early.

It’s like the instructor is silently saying that every student's progress is of great importance. He gets more work out of them without making any kind of verbal direction.

This type of instructor movement through the practice segments also makes him extremely accessible to the students for help. He isn’t off at the side chatting. He is giving this class every minute of the hour that he promised, not just the part where he is up at the front directly teaching.

Not every instructor does this kind of thing. In fact, most do not. In fact, most have never considered it part of teaching at all.

Black Belt

Recently, I hit a milestone in my Gracie Jiu-Jitsu journey.

My instructor told me over a year ago that he was putting my name forward for a big promotion. The evaluation involved is quite comprehensive and gruelling, so my preparation started then.

This was harder than it should have been. Covid kept regular training irregular, and extra practice was even harder to arrange.

About a half year later, candidates received their official invitations to attend the annual Black Belt evaluation.

This only happens in the first half of December, and involves candidates from around the world.

We also received more detailed information regarding requirements. By chance, our remarkably small school had five approved candidates. I believe this was the largest number from any one gym other than perhaps the Gracie University headquarters school in Los Angeles.

My training ramped up even more. It ran at about 8 sessions per week. A normal amount of training is about 3 classes per week. For me, normal is more like 4.

I drove south in time to get in two weeks of training with the Gracies before the big event.

When the actual exam started, there were about 35 candidates in total, with some from as far away as South Africa, Britain, and Australia. It made us Canadians feel almost like locals.

The eight hours of testing was spread over two days.

All five from my school passed, as did all three from neighbouring Vancouver.

It was an incredible relief to successfully complete the evaluation process, and to head home.

A lot of people have congratulated me, and there have been a lot of hugs. Some have asked if I would set up my own school. In reality, nothing much will change.

One thing that will be different is that I can explore in other directions than that demanded by the narrow focus of test preparation.

Having a little more freedom will be very nice.

Praise

 

Try and imagine something that is really, really fun. Maybe for you it’s dancing, or playing golf, or surfing, or fiddle playing. Maybe going to a movie is your favourite activity, or catching some live theatre, or just possibly hanging out in bars.

Whatever it is, you’d probably like to do it a lot. Would once a week be enough? Would doing it every day be too much?

I don’t feel that if somebody adores skiing, that they should be praised for the many hours they put into their activity. They are doing it for their own enjoyment, and would likely stop if the fun ever went away.

Of course, they shouldn’t be condemned for following their passion. That would be nuts. If somebody likes riding horses, and they want to do so every day, more power to them if they can pull it off.

For me, the best activity is Gracie Jiu-Jitsu.

It is fun learning something I’m interested in. It is fun training all of the moves and trying to improve. It is fun rolling around on the floor trying to defeat one another like a room full of puppies playing.

Somehow, I keep running into praise about how dedicated and disciplined I am. It seems I’m an inspiration.

I do train a lot. If I were to pick the perfect schedule, there would be an average of at least one Jiu-Jitsu session on it each day. Maybe some days more than one class; perhaps some days off of training.

This is more classes than are possible at the school in my little town. I attend both of the classes they put on, and also meet three times a week to work in a small group.

Getting more training involves traveling to train in Vancouver. It pretty much kills the day getting back and forth, and people there often praise me for being so hardworking and committed and other dandy stuff. Would they compliment somebody who travelled into the city because they liked to go shopping? I don’t think so.

I’m simply doing it for fun.

I guess for most people Jiu-Jitsu doesn’t have that effect. Many have stories to recount about times when they had to drag themselves to class, or they had to push through a plateau. I’ve never had anything like that. It is always fun.

I am not dedicated to my art, or struggling through any sorts of hardships. I am simply enjoying myself.

This is not to say that I mind being complimented on my discipline, or my work ethic, or dedication, or whatever. Maybe if they think there are such people out there it will help them through one of their slumps.

It might surprise them to know that if Jiu-Jitsu ever stopped being fun for me I would stop doing it.

Recent praise from my brother-in-law hit me with another similar, but different compliment.

He said that when somebody says they did their best he compares them with me, and thinks that they really didn’t do as much as they could have.

Maybe they just didn’t find an activity that they found so incredibly enjoyable that they would ignore any temptations to stay home, or to go do something else.

Anyhow, those are my thoughts on why I hang out on Jiu-Jitsu mats. I train a lot, but not due to any noble motivation.

I just like to smile.

Jiu-Jitsu Beginner First Class

 

If you are reading this, you most likely have some interest in joining a Gracie Jiu-Jitsu class, and are wondering what you can expect.

Likely, you will be somewhat nervous. Hopefully, this blog entry will give you a clear idea of what to expect, and to set any fears to rest.

Our beginner program is called “Gracie Combatives”, and runs Monday and Wednesday at 6:30pm. Each session goes for one hour.

When you arrive you will see people dressed in white uniforms, and several in various types of workout clothing. Someone will approach you wearing a friendly expression. We like having new people come to give us a try.

They will answer any questions you might have, and explain the basics as to how the class works. This person will most likely be the evening’s instructor, but it could be any of us.

At the start time, the class lines up along the wall and the instructor will give an introduction about the topic for the night. Students will be reminded they are to review previously learned material as a warm up that will last about ten minutes. New students, such as yourself, will be invited to one side for a short introduction to what we do in general, and to the beginner program that we run.

The class is gathered up after the warm-up/introduction period.

Each evening one standing move is taught, along with another related to fighting on the ground.

The instructor demonstrates the first move, with an advanced helper. They then show all of the steps and go over it all several times. Students pair up and give it a try.

This is a cooperative exercise; not a competitive one. This is always strongly emphasized, and reinforced. The beginner program is totally focused at some outside attacker. We help each other to survive that attack, and it is not a game where we try to defeat each other. We save that for the advanced class.

The partners take turns with the move. There will likely be several advanced helper teachers walking about giving assistance. Feel free to ask one for a hand if you need it. After working on this for a while, the class gets lined up again to learn the next variation of the move. There will be between one and three of these variations.

After working on the evening’s standing technique, the teacher goes on through the same method of demonstration and instruction for the ground fighting technique.

Again there is the lesson, then partner work, and then work on other variations.

The lessons are designed to fit nicely within the one-hour class structure.

The curriculum and teaching methodology has all been carefully constructed by Ryron and Rener Gracie. Our local instructors have had to complete a comprehensive program training them how to teach the Gracie program.

Once the class has ended, there is usually a little bit of hanging around and chatting. It is very unusual for anybody to have picked up an injury.

We will hope that you will return. Jiu-Jitsu may not be what you were looking for, and we understand that. We consider it our job to give as honest a representation of it that we possibly can, in a welcoming, non-threatening, and injury-free way.

Going South

The date is set, and I’m training like a madman. There is an incredible amount of material to absorb. Every minute of preparation is valuable.

This isn’t fun, and has been going on for the better part of a year. There are two-and-a-half months still to go.

If I pass, all is well and good. If not, or if I get wrecked during all the preparation work, I will not be doing it all again. For me, this is all supposed to be fun. I am old, and using up another year out of my finite supply is not an option.

I head south during the American Thanksgiving weekend in November. My wife is planning on staying behind here. The drive is a little over 2,100 kilometres, and will be spread over three days. All that travel will land me in Los Angeles ready to attend two intensive training weeks prior to the actual exam.

The Covid infection rate in Los Angeles county is alarming. Likely I’ll be avoiding people there as much as I can. When not on the mat I’ll be like a hermit. This is fine as there is nothing holiday-like about this California trip at all.

The actual evaluation will be my last two days in LA. I expect having everything thrown at the candidates. I really have no idea what their standards are like. There is a strong chance that I’ll be the oldest one being tested.

The drive home is the same length in distance and in terms of time as the trip south had been. I should be home smack in the middle of December.

That will feel good.

Either Way

 

So this year could be one of three Jiu-Jitsu promotions for me.

The first happened last month, and the second should happen in October. Those will be for stripes on my Brown Belt.

The third would be the big one.

It means getting down to Los Angeles to the big, yearly Black Belt mass evaluation just before Christmas.

Every training minute of my year will have been focused on preparing for that event. Actually more like a year-and-a-quarter. I started getting ready a few months ago.

All good training, of course, but quite a few Jiu-Jitsu projects would otherwise I have gotten involved with are on hold until after my Black Belt exam.

Of course, in December there will be considerable expense in getting down south. The exam is almost dawn-to-dusk for four days, so a minimum hotel stay would be 6 days long.

If all goes well, by Christmas I should have a shiny, new Black Belt.

However, such a thing isn’t guaranteed. If it were, why would there even be an evaluation event? I could be found wanting, and not pass.

I’m also crazy old to be doing Jiu-Jitsu (I’ll be 66 years old for the December exam), and could easily get injured badly enough at the test that I cannot finish the process. It is an extremely demanding event.

I could also get hurt before going south, or perhaps get sick or some such thing. This would also prevent a successful progression to Black Belt.

What would I do if any of those nasty events came to pass? The very next chance at a do-over would be a full 12 months later.

Those 12 months would again be totally focused on preparation for going to LA.

I’ve decided that I won’t want to do that. My remaining number of years in Jiu-Jitsu is limited. If I pass the test, I will move on to other Jiu-Jitsu focus areas. If I don’t pass the test, I will also move on.

I will not go for a second Black Belt examination, but will instead be content with my Brown Belt.

There is no real downside to this, and an enormous amount of training would be free for other objectives, not to mention the amount of money that another exam and trip to LA would entail.

Early on in my Jiu-Jitsu years it looked as if a Purple Belt was almost a pipe dream, and anything beyond that was quite impossible. I enjoyed my White and Blue Belt years, and then the promotion rules shifted. Purple became a real possibility, and in no time at all I received a Purple Belt.

Now I am a Brown Belt, and almost at the end of that path. It would be no hardship to stick at that level for the rest of my Jiu-Jitsu years.

Of course, I still plan on doing everything I can to earn a Black Belt by Christmastime. It would make a nice stocking stuffer.

Bugs Around

 

Covid hit Canada early in 2020. At first there were only a few infections, but that started to grow. The worst day was December 20th, when the rate hit a year high of 181.01 . (All these rates are a 7-day rolling average of new confirmed infections per 1,000,000 of population, and are taken from https://ourworldindata.org/covid-cases )

The infection rate in 2021 went up and down in waves, with two days being tied for best at 9.64 and the absolute worst day hit 227.97 .

Early in 2022 things went absolutely nuts. The rate shot up so that by January 10th it peaked at 1093.38 . That is 4.79 times worst than the absolute highest rate since Covid hit the country. At that figure, 1% of the entire country would be freshly infected in only 10 days.

I found it very strange that many people were pushing for lessening of Covid restrictions. Logic would suggest that acting in an opposite manner would make much more sense.

The good news is that the surge started to steadily decrease almost as quickly as it had shot up. As of yesterday, February 17th, the rate had dropped to 202.99 .

That is still higher than at any time in 2020, and is close to the worst day in 2021, but is less than a quarter of what it had been just a few days before.

If this continues I will soon be loosening up a bit with my own behavior.

I have decided that a rate around 100 would work for me for a partial return to activity.

Using two different mathematical calculations, and then believing the most pessimistic, the rate should go below 100 by February 24th.

Then if things continue, the rate should go under 50 by March 2nd.

These are only mathematical models based on past events and in no way predict what people and the virus will get up to. They just suggest where the line on a graph might end up if it keeps behaving the way it recently has.

So what do I do now to avoid infection, and how might that change?

I don’t go out where people are very much at all. If I am in a grocery store, drug store, or other such venue I am always masked. I find all masks pretty much equally annoying so I wear an N95. Why not?

If I’m out on my daily run, I try to avoid getting close to other people.

I love going out to eat, but haven’t even considered doing so since the infection rate exploded.

My most important out-of-house activity is attending Jiu-Jitsu training. In normal times, this includes regular advanced classes, advanced principles sessions, beginner classes, training in the city, and training with partners. If is quite normal for me to train close to ten times a week.

Currently, everything is on hold except working with Sam. Both of us are extremely Covid cautious, and don’t train with anybody else, or even with other people around. We do this a few times per week, except when either of us might have been exposed to Covid in any way.

If the rate drops below 100 we are both ready to consider returning to the advanced principles sessions. These classes are incredibly interesting, valuable, and fun. I suspect that we would attend, but still only partner with each other during practice time and sparring.

If the rate goes below 50 perhaps we’d add more classes, or maybe other partners. We haven’t discussed this yet, and would both need to agree.

Even if a totally effective cure is developed for Covid my behavior has been forever changed. In crowded situations I’ll likely always rely on a good mask. Why wouldn’t I do that when riding on crowded transit or some similar situation? Even if there were no Covid around, there are always other lesser viruses and bacteria being coughed and sneezed about.