My Spot

I like my spot in Jiu-Jitsu. My Purple Belt promotion happened six months ago, and any motion up to Brown Belt is a minimum of three years in the future.

As a satellite school of The Gracie Academy, we have a very precise curriculum to operate with. In our advanced group this consists of three levels of material. We do it in repeating cycles that require over a year to complete.

I've been through the base level of material three times already, and am on my second time through that of the second tier. This doesn't take into account the many times I've done review of it all on my own. For me, the only new stuff is the third-level techniques that have only freshly been made available.

Let me describe a typical portion of a cycle where we address a particular sub-set of the material. Right now we are doing this with the Guard chapter sweeps, so I'll use that as an example.

In the first curriculum level there are two techniques, and at level two there are two more, and at level three there are three. We spend one class on each of these. That means for me I will be having four classes of review, followed by three of newer material. Most of the sub-sets are even more heavily weighted towards review.

Don't get me wrong; I love review. However, doing such a large percentage of our work on older stuff means that I have plenty of energy to work on other things. In addition to all the class time, I will also have attended 2 open mat sessions per week. What should I pour over there?

I have started to mix things up with my training outside of class. I work on things that we did down in LA that I've largely put aside, and have also started perusing assorted online videos that address particular questions I have, or on my weaknesses.

I also try developing smooth transitions between techniques. This is very hard for me, but always worthwhile.

Another component of my role here is to be a resource person for the Blue Belts.

Every so often one of them gets ambitious, and decides to put in a lot of extra work preparing for and performing optional technical exams. To do this, they need a partner; preferably one who has gone through the process several times. This is me.

I get a lot more work (also review) out of the process, and act as both a training partner and tutor.

Sometimes somebody just wants to work on “stuff”, and again I am happy to meet up with them and train.

And then there are the White Belts. Their class can always use extra experienced hands. I'm always present at their classes, too.

In all, I am on the mat for approximately a dozen hours a week. This also requires about half as much time spent driving back and forth. I can do all this as I am a happily retired gent. Jiu-Jitsu is sort of my job, although it is never drudgery.

It all adds up to being a lovely phase in my Jiu-Jitsu journey.