Above and Below

There is often conflict within martial arts communities.

From above, there is often the expectation that it is all like a military organization run from the top down.

This has never fit well with my world view. There is a division of loyalty between that owed to one's instructors, and to one's students.

This is fine as long as the requirements from above match the needs of the students below.

Sometimes the two directions end up in conflict. If this cannot be reconciled, my loyalty is always to my students.

I've been lucky that I've never had to decide between the two.

I've been in one organization that came into conflict between the commands from above and the good of the students below. The organization self-destructed. This all happened outside of my influence, and my only decision was which fragment to follow after the breakup occurred.

With the new Jiu-Jitsu club starting at the school, my outlook is the same. Right now the needs of my students are well met by my superiors within the Jiu-Jitsu association. The interests currently all align nicely.

What do my kids get from the association? The curriculum is all beautifully designed and available to the club at no charge through me.

What does the association get? They want their form of Jiu-Jitsu to spread, so they get some of that. It is also likely that some of my students will get so into the activity that they join the local Certified Training Center as paying students. This benefits both them and the association.

I'm hoping our Certified Training Center will offer some kind of deal to my kids; maybe with a free period of training, or some such thing. I also hope that they will get at least partial credit for training done with me towards rank progression. I'll bring that up once it seems like it might matter.

The head of our Certified Training Center is a reasonable guy, and Gracie headquarters seems pretty clear, consistent and reasonable.

I predict smooth sailing all around.

Overflowing

We have a Jiu-Jitsu club about to start at the high school, and I'm the instructor

At last count, 35 have signed up. This must be some kind of record.

I'm not freaking out at all. It is actually quite manageable. How, you might ask?

The first thing is we're going to divide them into two groups of about 18 kids that will meet on different days. That is still a lot, but less than it seems.

They will always be working with others, so that is only 9 pairs on the mat. It's really not hard to keep track of 9 things. There will also be a helper coach present. I can focus on technique, and they can watch out for behavior.

Likely we'll also lose a few quite quickly. Kids tend to try things out at school clubs. This is one of the main reasons they exist. If we assume a quarter of the kids quit after a few sessions, things will be almost spacious.

One of the girls said her dad is willing to come help, and that he's a 6^th Dan in Judo. How cool it that?

End game

It's not exactly how I was expecting to finish my time as a teacher. It's been over a week since I've been able to bike to work. Some stupid virus has struck, and it wouldn't be a great idea to ride in the rain and the cold.

The virus has kept me from martial arts for about a week. This has messed up my internal calendar as I keep track of the days by what is happening in my training schedule. It has meant a lot of extra soft-chair, TV time.

They've only just recently posted my job, and will be accepting applications up until the end of today. They've had over a month's notice, and still they wait until almost the last second. Likely I won't even get to talk with my replacement at all.

I've started junking out my shelves and drawers. It isn't a big as job as I was dreading. Most is going straight into recycling or the trash. I really don't want much to end up at home. Nothing teacher-ish is coming with me at all. Some of my stuff is being given away, or getting left for the new teacher.

One thing I'm dreading is anybody doing anything to commemorate my leaving. I want it all to end simply with an ordinary day. There will be a wee thing done in June for teachers leaving the school. I might return for that, but I might not. Such events are really not enjoyable for me at all. So far there is no sign of anything. I hope it stays this way.

I haven't been part of the school's extra-curricular activity for maybe a decade. Suddenly, we have a Jiu-Jitsu club starting up which I'll be involved with after I retire. All of the tedious organizational part of the activity is being absorbed by the vice principal. Gotta love that.

A weird few weeks lately. A good part is that after today, I only have seven work days left. Smack in the middle of those seven days I get a week off for spring break.

That's right; a week off right before I retire.

Good planning, or what?

Club hoops

A million years of martial arts experience, coaching certification, teaching experience, and a Jiu-Jitsu Blue Belt. What could be hard about teaching Jiu-Jitsu at a High School club.

You'd be surprised.

The school's wrestling room will be the location, and it's a dandy one. For safety, I want to limit how many kids are in the room at any one time. Banging heads is an issue. About 15 would be great.

The trouble is, we have 25 kids signed up so far, and that happened in just one day. Likely that number will continue growing.

This might mean two groups on different days. Problem solved.

There could also be an issue with families' perceptions? When people hear Jiu-Jitsu, they also think it means UFC. We will have a family meeting for anybody with concerns.

If it were a wrestling club, there wouldn't be an issue. Having been involved with both, I'd say wrestling is considerably more dangerous. In that sport, kids start rolling around freely almost immediately. In Jiu-Jitsu there is none of that.

The lessons are very structured. Wrestling is pretty safe, and Jiu-Jitsu is safer, at least the way we'll be doing it.

To be even more sensitive to safety concerns, I am altering the order in which the lessons are normally taught. I am delaying the first armlock by a few weeks to make sure I'm confident of the club members. Both the vice principal and I are quite willing to chuck out anybody with an unacceptable attitude or behavior. I know most of the kids already and it looks fine.

So we have to handle the kids, and the families. Anything else? There is the school's principal and its vice principal, and the school district. Anybody there can kill the whole thing. Luckily, the vice principal is just as involved as I am. He's been doing the administrator dance, and has found support all the way through.

The last step will be to make the Jiu-Jitsu association people happy. They want us to register as a Gracie Garage. This is based on the early days of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu when they would literally train in somebody's garage. There are a couple of hoops to jump through, but nothing daunting. It is how we can deliver authentic Jiu-Jitsu at no cost to the kids.

We even have the instructor of the local Certified Training Center on board.

It looks like we start after Spring Break.

Plus what?

I do Karate and Jiu-Jitsu and love both, but is there anything else I would add?

Around here there isn't. The selection of local arts is limited, as is the selection of instructors. I'm picky about both.

Let's look at two excellent instructors that live near me that have thriving clubs. One teaches a different style of Karate from my own. I certainly recommend him to others, but I don't need a different Karate variant. The other teaches Hapkido, which is a little like Karate and Jiu-Jitsu mixed. I don't really need that either.

Therefore, there is nothing I am able to add to my martial arts training in my area.

If I could magically have whatever I want, that would be a different story altogether.

I like Iado (Japanese sword), but I wouldn't start studying it. There isn't a lot of time left in my week to squeeze in additional training. I would therefore have to be picky even amongst things I would enjoy.

I'd have to say that the only thing I would add would be Judo.

Judo is very similar to Jiu-Jitsu, except with different skills emphasized. Their throws are the best around, and I need a lot of work in that area.

For Kids

It looks like my martial arts world is going to change again.

Things started with a conversation. The vice principal at my school asked me about getting his son into one of the little kids Jiu-Jitsu classes. Turns out he's too young, but the talking soon bent into other angles.

We started wondering if a Jiu-Jitsu club should run at the school.

The talk grew, and spread. The principal and school district seem to be OK, as does the local Jiu-Jitsu academy. We are waiting on word from the association's headquarters as well.

It looks like I'll be the coach (school term), or leader (association term), or instructor (in normal terms). As I'm not a certified instructor there are restrictions on exactly what we can do.

We will likely have to qualify as a “Gracie Garage”. This means that while we cannot use the association's name, or claim any sort of authorization, we are permitted to work together through the program. It also means we are forbidden to collect any fees or charge students in any way. This is perfect for a school club.

I am certified by the National Coaching Certification Program as both a level one Wrestling and level one Karate instructor. I've been teaching martial arts since the early 1980s, and been a school teacher for about as long. I can certainly do the job.

The only weirdness will be that I'll be retiring just as the club is starting. I can be a community coach, but school clubs need a staff member to be involved. The vice principal wants to be that guy. He wants to learn Jiu-Jitsu.

Any student who wants to go beyond what we'll be doing in the club can either join the Gracie University online program, or attend the local Certified Training Center where I train.

I've tested the idea with one of my classes, and it was overwhelmingly positive. It might actually be too popular. The vice principal agrees. He's agreed to be the guy to sort that all out, and keep wait lists and such.

The school even has room-sized wrestling mats.

We've set a target date for after Spring Break.

Fast Lane...a little

The first step along a White Belt's road to promotion is advancement to the Reflex Development class. They continue with their regular two classes per week and add this third one.

That third class is very different. The assumption there is that the students have a basic understanding. Things are not explained in detail. We generally work on the curriculum in big chunks.

Instead of doing one standing and one ground technique per night, we do about 15. We work on all of the guard techniques, or those of mount, side mount, or standing.

The white belts work away, and are expected to work towards test-quality delivery.

They also get to watch the various levels of Blue Belts working the same way. They get to see the much cooler stuff that awaits them down the road. Sometimes jaws drop open.

They must attend at least 12 of these classes before they are permitted to test for their own Blue Belts. Of course, there are other requirements as well.

I have decided to make it my business to help White Belts reach Reflex Development class earlier.

To qualify, they must have completed 40 of the White Belt ordinary classes. If they can find a Blue Belt to drill them on one of the lessons on open-mat night, they get credit for that class.

Tonight I worked with Elizabeth. This moved her one click closer to Reflex Development. She will now be there week after next.

There is a young guy who is the next most advanced. He needs about ten more classes to qualify. That would normally take five weeks. If I work with him a couple of times, he'll shave off a week. If we work together four times, he gains two weeks total.

Why do I care? It's because we are low on Blue Belts, and for the Whites to become Blue they first have to reach Reflex Development class.

No big effort from me, they get to progress faster, and the club gets Blue Belts more quickly.

I don't really see a downside.