GenderEquityPartZillion

I've discovered an otherwise unknown, critical problem with Jiu-Jitsu gender equity.

Take our own advanced group. We have 2 female Blue Belt students training.

With that in mind, wouldn't you suppose that we would also have 2 male students? I would.

In fact, we have eleven. Clearly something is wrong.

The questions must be, “Why are too many men being attracted to martial arts?” and “How can we discourage them?”

It is equally good exercise for both genders, so what attracts men, more? It can only be that there are too few other activities available for guys in other venues. We must be made easier for men to get accepted into baseball, hockey, and in the community's weight rooms. If this were done, less men would feel compelled to train in martial arts.

Perhaps the self-defense aspect is part of the appeal. This implies that men out there getting attacked willy-nilly all over the place. Their attempt at a solution is to raise their combat skills. We must make every effort to make our society one where men do not feel so much more at risk than women.

Maybe when these measures are taken, we will finally see a reduction in the number of men training in Jiu-Jitsu. Perhaps our own Blue Belt group will be able to attain a perfect ratio of 50/50.

Let's get those guys off of the mat.

Owen

It turns out that today was a pretty big day.

Two weeks ago, Owen started performing his Blue Belt exam. Our instructor was away, so we had to make do. Cosme acted as Owen's on-screen partner, while I ran the camera and read out the technique list.

Owen managed to perform both the Mount, and Guard segments. Nothing is ever perfect, but when the three of us decided that an attempt was good enough, we put it aside for our instructor to OK later. If things didn't go well enough, we reshot the segment.

Last week we did the same thing, except with the Side-Mount and Standing sections. This left only the Free Style Fight Sim to record.

Our instructor was back this week, and looked our efforts over. He declared all except the Guard to be acceptable for submission.

Today, Owen performed his Guard part again, and the Fight Sim. Cosme was again his partner, I was the camera guy, and our instructor read out the technique list, and oversaw the whole operation. We had to do the Guard recording a couple of times, but the Fight Sim produced a keeper on the first go.

The whole shebang will be uploaded to Gracie headquarters for actual grading. All he has to do now is wait.

Results have come in as little as a couple of days, and as long as two weeks.
It can seem a very long wait.

The good part is that we're so picky about what gets submitted that our pass rate is outstanding. In fact, no one who had graded for Blue Belt since I've been in the group has failed, and only one before that. The overall failure rate for the entire organization is about 30%.

Having completed the test there are three phases. Owen is entering the first. This one is limbo. It is full of wondering about failure or success.

The second phase starts when the news arrives about passing. The news comes instantly, but the actual belt takes a while to arrive. One becomes a Blue Belt, but is still wearing a White Belt. Wearing any old Blue Belt isn't allowed. You have to wait for your official, Gracie University one to arrive in the mail.

The third phase is when the transition is over. The student is a Blue Belt, and starts wearing a Blue Belt.

KneeBone

I don't heal very fast.

About two and a half months ago, my back decided to start twinging, and my right knee started to complain. Neither was a big problem as these things go, but they just didn't seem to be getting better.

Helen and I then went away to visit friends for about two weeks in a cute little town called Vernon. No Jiu-Jitsu for me. The result was that my back got all better, although there was no change in the knee.
 

Back for couple of weeks, and no change either way.
 

Then my knee decided to swell up and to get very stiff. No pain, but something was clearly wrong.
 

I didn't train last night, nor today, and won't tomorrow. I've been trying to keep it elevated and such, and the swelling is down.
 

This could be something real. A couple of months with a cranky knee, that decides to suddenly swell up.
 

Won't be rolling for a while. Next week I'll have to decide if I can train at all. I plan on being a baby about it.
 

After that, I will be having an enforced absence of two weeks off the mat. Lots of visiting friends and such, so I'll be walking a fair bit. Still, much less than my knee has to usually undergo.

I'm hoping for it to get better, but will be off to visit doctors if it isn't. If there is a real injury it will need to be attended to.

Three

Our Jiu-Jitsu group has 11 Blue Belt students currently active.

When it comes to rank progression, we all fit neatly into three clearly-defined categories.
 

I am in the largest and easiest group to understand. There are 5 of us who have all received promotion recently. For us, our next rank promotion is many months in the future. Promotion requires, at a minimum, a certain number of classes before one is even considered.
 

The 3 people in the next group have between 10 and 12 months at their current level. All train regularly, and have either passed the minimum-class requirements, or soon will. We have no idea when they might receive recognition through promotion. The criteria isn't particularly clear.
 

The final group of three is the most difficult to predict. Two of them have spent almost 3 years at their current rank, and the third has been a Blue Belt for almost 4 years. All surely would have been promoted long ago, except that the current system has only recently come into operation. Complicating things further, all have a major gap in their training.
 

Two moved away for well over a year and subsequently returned. That time away can not be considered when calculating their seniority. Both are working to regain the skill level that they had when they left.
 

The third went off to university 8 months ago, and won't return here and resume training for 2 more months. She has been keeping herself fresh by cross training.

It's all a big tangle, full of further complications. I assume seminar attendance helps weigh the scales towards a candidate, but by how much? Does helping out at the kids' class or women's self-defence group help? How much? Does attendance at open mat help? Similarly, is attendance at the White Belt classes a factor?

I'd hate to be the one trying to sort this all out.

Sparring

There are many ways to spar in Jiu-Jitsu.

Beginners don't roll at all. The first that a Gracie Jiu-Jitsu student experiences is called “Freestyle Fight Simulation.” It is introduced in the weekly, “Reflex Development” class. To qualify for this, a student will have already been training in the twice-weekly White Belt classes for at least five months.

“Freestyle Fight Sim” isn't really sparring at all, but it's close. One person takes the roll of the bad guy, and freely presents their partner with all the assorted attacks that the student has been learning to counter. Normally, the bad guy is a higher-belt student. The goal is to respond appropriately to all the bad-guy moves and attacks that are presented. Things usually happen at about half speed.

Real sparring starts when the student reaches the Blue Belt, or “Master Cycle” class. We roll in various ways there.

My least favourite type is where one partner wears boxing gloves and plays the bad guy. They portray a non-Jiu-Jitsu attacker who only wants to punch. It is a useful drill, but generally repetitious, as against that type of attack there are a limited number of responses. We do this every week or two.

We do another type of sparring where both partners wear small, padded gloves that leave the fingers free. Both partners to their best to subdue their partner. They both throw light punches to keep themselves aware of the dangers of striking. Again, a useful drill. I dislike it as even these smaller gloves interfere greatly with technique.

My favourite type is the kind we do the most often. No gloves; no punching; all grappling. This is when the full range of technique is used, without the annoying gloves to get in the way. This is what most people think of when they thing of Jiu-Jitsu people rolling. There are two versions of this type of roll.

One has the label of, “Keep it Real.” When we go this way, we do our best to control and subdue our partner.

I prefer the other, called, “Keep it Playful.” This is when we roll, but let stuff happen that wouldn't if we were trying to win. If things get locked down, you give up the impasse. It's more an exchange of technique than a competition. An example would be allowing an armbar to happen even if you could have prevented it, and then seeing if you can escape. I learn the most when I roll this way, and it's more like a game.

All the variants are a lot of fun.

The down side is the potential for bumps and bruises.

Fix

It was back to Jiu-Jitsu last night after a couple of weeks off on holiday.

I was planning on using the break in continuity to change something.
 

Usually, during the Blue Belt class I work with whoever indicates they want me as their partner. For whatever reason I am never without a partner. Although I'm one of the bigger people in the class it seems the smaller people want to train with me. I don't exactly know why. Maybe I'm gentle, or maybe I focus on what my partner needs. Maybe more so than the other big people. I really have no idea why.

The only down side for me is that I almost always work with the smaller folks. I only very rarely get to work with the big guys. I need to work with them more than I do.
 

So I was planning to start preemptive partner picking; to sometimes grab a big guy before a small person can get me. Not always. I like working with everybody, but need both sides of the size spectrum.
 

Didn't get to carry out my plan last night. At the very first partnering opportunity, Rob immediately grabbed my shoulder. He's not a little guy, and is bloody strong. At the second partnering, Ryan quickly fired a full-arm point at me. He's the biggest strongest guy we've got. It was for a strength-and-size-dependant move. Perfect.

This was already more big-guy work in one night than I'd been gotten in a long time. After that, I ended up getting grabbed by Elizabeth, and then snatched by Tahwa. They were the two smallest present in the group.

A perfect mix.
 

I didn't have to do anything different.

Restart

About a year ago we started up a Jiu-Jitsu club at the local high school.

The response was impressive, and there are a great bunch of kids involved. The only problem has been my retired-guy travelling.

The club shut down at Christmas, and stayed down while I was in LA during January and February. After that, the school's spring break got in the way, as did my current couple of weeks out of town.

We're re-starting the club on April 30th.

What else could go wrong? It will have to shut down near the end of the year; likely in early June. I also have two more weeks of travel scheduled before then. There is also a looming teacher strike.

Wonder if the kids will want the club back in the new year?