White belts are people too!

So today I learned that white belts are people too. They practice techniques and roll. . . just like us colored belts! 😛 Of course I’m kidding.

Today I had a blast with my white belts. They came in for our first special white belt training session. I decided to do this class because our gym is steadily growing, and as it does, I don’t want any of my students to fall through the cracks. Our gym standards and expectations are high and I want to keep it as such but I feel like I needed to do more with assisting the white belts to success. I’ve seen similar classes done at other gyms but usually they charge a fee. I honestly don’t care about snagging an extra 20-60 bucks from my students, I’d rather see them progress, stick with it and reach their goals. That’s my mission as an instructor.

One of the ways I personally gauge myself on my abilities as a coach is how well I can help as many people as possible reach their goals. Whether that’s winning in competition, weight loss and improved fitness, etc. Its easy with the freaks of nature who are naturally gifted. They pick things up easy. But I feel its a better challenge and a better judge of my abilities if I can take someone who isn’t as naturally inclined towards BJJ and help them achieve their aims.

During the class we went over several basic techniques that I require students to know before they can become a blue belt. I also randomly picked some of them out of the class to demonstrate and explain the techniques to everyone. I was able to watch everyone demonstrate the techniques and help correct any errors they had. With a few of the techniques we examined the mistakes that students were making together and corrected them. After drilling we had a king of the mat style rolling session. This was a really helpful. As I said about the women’s only class, its helpful to watch people compete against others who are relatively similar to themselves in skill.

At the end of class I had everyone sit in a big circle and talk about themselves a little and explain why they decided to get involved in BJJ. I don’t think anyone gets into BJJ to suck or to do it for a couple of months and quit. So I think it its important to hear why it is someone decided to take on something that could last indefinitely. It’s also fun to watch adults get uncomfortable in situations like this. As adults we become really uptight and its important for everyone to kinda of lose that. . uptightness when they’re training. I mean when you think about training and doing BJJ, it’s kind of a weird thing to get so crazy about. We roll around and sweat all over each other in robes. 

Anyways, enough rambling, it was a fun day and I couldn’t be happier with the results I received from the class. Now I have to get ready and promote some new blue belts!