WHEN to start building a "game"

At one point in a BJJ practitioner's career do you suggest they actively start to develop a "game"?

I ask because my wife is a white belt who says she doesn't really have a "game" yet (though she does feel most comfortable in open guard due to her flexibility). Some of her fellow white belts talk constantly about working almost exclusively on those aspects of BJJ which will help them "impose their game." My wife currently prefers to feel out her opponents/partners and react accordingly.

Is there a number of basic positions / passes / sweeps you get people to "master" before moving on to specifics?

 

Purple belt. That's where you know about 80% of the techniques you're going to use fr the rest of your days. It's mostly refining after that.

 

Cheers man. Ironically it was one of the purple belts who told her to just keep doing what she's doing and worry about that stuff later.

Is it a white belt thing to always go on about your game then?

 

Eh, a little. Blue belts are very guilty of it too though.

 

I asked my coach this exact same question. He said that having a game plan in mind is a good thing to be aware of as soon as you start competing. Know what your strongest passes are, your strongest submissions, etc. Go in with a plan and, in leading up to that comp, do a lot of long, intense rounds where you focus on imposing your plan. But don't give up on learning new things, trying out things even if you're uncomfortable with them, play new guards, etc. up until you start getting into really serious competitions. At that point, he said he felt the need to choose between being a teacher, with a wide breadth of knowledge,or a competitor, with a deep and thorough knowledge of his game. Said that, after rolling with one of the Gracies, he realized that this guy had no idea about the weird new guards, or the berimbolo or anything like that, but he had such an incredibly well put together and practiced game that he didn't need anything like that to shut my coach down. I think in any case, your emphasis changes, depending on the date of the competition and how intense/rewarding it is.

tl;dr Purple belt.

 

I think a game plan is a little different to what BJJ players mean when they talk about their 'game'. You should always have a game plan going into a competition - you'd be crazy not to, but your game is a more abstract sense of how you practice BJJ, rather than a plan of what you are going to do in a particular situation on the mat.

Your game, once you've defined it, is obviously going to influence your game plan, but so is your opponent's game.

I hate the word game.

 

I guess I see that as a question of focus; game refers to a broader 'what is essentially my move set' while game plan refers to your objective in a competition. Apologies if I was fast and loose with them. I think his advice would still be to be aware of it and work on expanding it up until you get to serious competitions.

 

I think I get what you mean.

Example: My wife fights a taller opponent so her train of thought is something like "pull guard -> attempt sweep -> they defend -> attempt triangle" that sort of thing. Is that game plan or game?

Generally speaking, she's always fighting someone bigger so she feels most at ease jumping/pulling guard and getting straight into open guard.

 

Edit: Apparently it's "butterfly guard" she prefers (I just got corrected lol).

 

Haha, tell her butterfly guard IS an open guard.

 

I would say this is a game plan. It's a flow of moves. A game refers to what happens if she gets taken down and how does she defend from the following arm bar attempt, which grips might she choose to play for a take down, etc. The entirety of everything she knows. HER VERY JIU JITSU SOUL.

 

So is it fair to say game plans are a subset of one's game? Like chapters in a book?

 

I guess I'd just say a game plan is my go to. My ideal flow chart. I don't ever want to use my arm bar defense, the only reason I would is if I've messed up and someone has started to perform an arm bar on me, so I wouldn't say that it's part of my game plan, but I would say it's part of my game.

 

the major criticism of BJJ many players is that focus on a game plan early on (because of the value of competition) stalls an overall development of skills in general rolling/class. thats why so many people here are saying wait till purple belt.

 

I only trained BJJ for a couple of years but this is how I found both my aikido and BJJ skillsets to develop in myself and people I observed. You always have preferential techniques and methods of engagement when you start because you have a limited number of techniques and concepts and you start to find what works for you. As you progress and you add more techniques you start to branch out and build a little away from your bread and butter. Once again you start to learn what works for you in more specific engagements and situations.

TL;DR - It's a constant cycle between generalization and specialization

 

I've kind of noticed this with the 'feel' of my learning. Some days it feels like I'm able to just magnificently pull out these weird and wonderful jazz like techniques against people ranked higher than me and other days I just have to grind to tune the technique and move my head just so and my foot just there. Same thing with biology learning. Hell, same thing for evolution! Just had a very good class about molecular evolution and epistasis and the limits of evolution. :O

 

That probably the best description I've read regarding development in any sport.

 

What do you think of this?



It's a generalization based on experimental evolution in organisms like yeast and E. coli about how two different mutations can interact. No epistasis is simply additive, synergistic epistasis magnifies, sign epistasis turns a negative to a positive, reciprocal epistasis turns two weaknesses alone into a synergistic whole.

 

The 'game' concept is kinda multi faceted.

First off learn THE game, I.e. all the things you need to learn that you cant do without. (White, and blue belt focus)

Then form you current "A game" I.e. your favourite goto chains of moves that are high percentage for you.
Then work on your "B C and D games" (purple belt focus) new moves and chained moves that your working on but arnt totally sure if yet.

Then before every comp season reassess your A game. Simple

 

i think you need a "game" almost right away. that's just me. i competed as a white belt though and continue to compete. i think it's only natural to start developing a "game" pretty early on. i think once a person starts rolling, it just naturally comes.