Hi all, After years of being on MAP (13 years since I joined as an 18 year old!), I'm in the odd position of being one of the most experienced and oldest people at my new club. Its an MMA focused club with a no-gi jiu jitsu program and I often spend most my sparring time coaching others through matches (the fighters often have separate training sessions). I very easily dominate most the rolls, even with incredibly unorthodox stuff, and have resorted to teaching others my gameplan. I've taken a couple of the younger folks (16 to 18 year olds) under my wing and would like to make sure I'm giving them a good skillset. What are your approaches to teaching and mentoring? (Personally I focus on conceptual approaches, trying to get people used to using one concept to solve one problem isolation and under pressure before adding in a new problem and a new concept to solve this new problem under pressure and so on and so forth) How do these approaches differ for age groups and athleticism? (Personally I'm someone who got mpre athletic as I got older and most my training partners have been smaller women so my focus are on universal fundamentals that work regardless of attributes) What do you wish you had learnt when you were starting out? (For me, I wish there was more of a focus on fundamentals and neutralising/disengaging with and opponent when I was starting out) What would you have not listened listened to/reacted productively to when starting out? (I've had trouble calming down new people that I spar with, there's a lot of panicking to try to "win" each training session despite them not having a skillset. Recently, I fell into the "gym enforcer" mindset by just mauling these people. but I recall when I was newer, when people "enforced" on me, I just thought I needed to go harder/faster/get stronger. I think a better approach would be a conversation about the goals of training and the cooperative mindsets needed for learning).
What are your approaches to teaching and mentoring? It depends on the level of the student and how often they train, it also depends on whether they want the advice and if the coach is happy for me to give it. Made the mistake before of giving advice because to people I was much better than that turned out to contradict the actual coaches advice. And we have all trained with that annoying guy who tells you what you are doing wrong without being asked. But my approach when teaching is to look for commonality across positions and postures, look for answers/truths that are universal rather than position specific. Basically teach core universal principles and expand where necessary. How do these approaches differ for age groups and athleticism? As much as I would like to say they don't they do, you have to taylor your teaching to the audience (at least the pace of if if not the content) and as much as saying universal fundamentals work the same for all, teaching a heavyweight as opposed to a lightweight does change what you would emphasize and prioritise, as does age group I teach adolescents differently from adults you simply have to. What do you wish you had learnt when you were starting out? I was lucky my first coach was one of the best minds in MMA and grappling in the early 2000s so I learned methodically and nothing was missed out. However teaching someone brand new to grappling is difficult and frustrating because it's hard to relate to being that person after being in the game so long. What would you have not listened listened to/reacted productively to when starting out? This is a difficult one, I basically teach by beating them in a nice controlled way (I can do this with most people because of my size and experience) I also teach by sparring so teach principles, spar and let them get the move or try the principle on me, then show it works by beating them with the principle no matter how hard they try to defend. That way there is no mistake what I teach does or doesn't not work and also gives them confidence in themselves that what they are learning works for them too
Hey Icefield, thanks for your insights. What universal truths do you think exist? And how do you convey them in words? E.g. I like to use rhymes to make them memorable. Do you believe heavyweights require different skills from light weights? I've seen a lot of heavy guys with bad escapes that can't deal with people their own size, I feel like focusing on things that are high percentage for small people is extra effective for large people. How do you teach by sparring? Currently we're working on a whitebelt ruleset friendly leglock system e.g. single leg X, X guard, straight ankle locks. I tend not to say "this is the only way to solve this problem" but rather "i use this technique because of this concept, which deals with these issues (counters, lack of control etc) I've encountered but we'll test it out and see what problems we encounter" and then we roll through that position/scenario, get feedback and see what other problems and solutions we come up with. If we get very stuck, we run it past the coach who has far more experience than any of us. (Generally I believe learning is a collaborative process that involves exploration from the learners and my coach is okay with that approach because its developing personal style and understanding)
Some universal truths are, at least for me 1) create space when in trouble 2) kill space when in dominant position 3) when in trouble move your hips 4) when in a good position kill your opponent's ability to use their hips 5) dominate head position 6) dominate the grips 7) learn to love and dominate with the underhook, standing and on the ground 8) when on the bottom never carry your opponents weight directly on you, related to this 9) frames are good, frames can save you 10) T rex arms, never reach to full extension with your arms, standing or on the ground 11) never be flat on your back 12) where possible I want my opponents hips and shoulders flat on the floor There are no doubt others and the depth you go into them depends on your students willingness to learn and their level (and whether you leave danaher or not lol) but in all honestly move your hips, control your opponent ability to move theirs and keep your damn arms in is about 90% of grappling standing and on the ground.
Teaching by sparring is normally done by isolated sparring just in the position or with just the submissions we have been working on, or by me feeding them or allowing them to attack and use what we have been learning on me. When there are with other students it's a lot of position specific sparring or goal orientated sparring, your goal is to pin ,or your goal is to simply stand up etc
Hi! Nice to have you back. I always appreciate your thoughtful posts. Dominating doesn't mean you can't find ways to make yourself better. You need to make it interesting and fun for yourself, otherwise your partner will not get the right energy. Baiting is an advanced form of domination. How much can you make your partner feel as if they are in control? How far can you manipulate them into going for attacks of your choosing? Practicing this with beginners is your low-pressure drilling, then see if you can make it work against people at your level. I always want everyone gaining from training, including myself! There should almost always be multi-level training opportunities in any drill or sparring. That's the obvious example, but at a fundamental level I think people get more out of training with partners who are engaged and "in the game". Perhaps some of what you're doing will seep into their game by osmosis, or at the very least they will get the sense that there is more going on than they are capable of discerning, which provides motivation to continue training. Forgive me if I've misunderstood you, but a concept would be something you can solve multiple problems with, otherwise it is a technique. Why would you jump from concept to concept when you could stick with the same concept and introduce multiple problems? I think personality and attitude are more important than age and athleticism when changing your approach to teaching. It depends on the person. If they are competitive then allowing them to ramp up without matching them can work, if you treat that as a "lose". Stop, make it clear in a polite way that it was not within the rules of the game, and continue. Rinse and repeat. If they are ramping up because they are nervous, get them in control of their breathing. Keep reminding them to reign their breathing in whenever they start hitting the gas. Make them tired: pushups, burpees or whatever whenever they go harder than instructed. Simplify the drill to the absolute basics and have them go as slow as you can, then go back to adding pressure incrementally. Competitiveness and fear are related, so a mix of approaches will be needed.
Hey man, First up I'd say we'll done to you, for trying to help others out at the gym. Secondly, dont make more out of it then it is, so show them some moves if asked, but also be ready for them to just want to roll etc, people have all sorts of different wants and needs, and sometines they won't align with what yours are. Thirdly, make sure your not stepping on any toes with the coaches at the gym, so ideally keep everything to the same ruleset everyone else is using, and if you get any coaching input from the coaches, listen to what they say. Good luck mate.
Yeah I got the all clear from coaching staff to work on stuff during rolling time and I have 2 guys I'm working through leglock systems with. I'm at point of refusing rolls with new people (like first few weeks in) unless they pick a positional roll (usually the position we'veworked in class). When they mess up the same way repeatedly, I give them an objective with no technical guidance (e.g. control my far shoulder) and we rolling again. I'll let them figure out the technique from what we worked in class. Frankly I used to be kind with my training time in letting people do whatever they want but I have limited mat time and I'm not going to waste it in rolls where my training partners have no goals for themselves and I'm dictating 100% of a roll. If they're there just to get dunked on in 100 ways then I'm not up for a roll. I need to get either reps of a learning experience from a roll otherwise its just another 10 years of me aimlessly rolling without making progress.
