How To Encourage Learning the BJJ Basics

I read an article this afternoon that I found quite interesting. Actually, the article was good, but what I found even better was the format in which it was presented. Question and answer. In this day and age, finding ways to captivate readers is challenging. I enjoy reading Jiu-Jitsu articles similar to the one I read today.

How to keep your grappling club from turning into a crapplefest

The question was basically this: We have a loose group of people who work together and who like to meet weekly to train BJJ. I am a blue belt and so is another fella I work with. I am a “basics” kind of guy and he’s sort of off the wall with trying the latest and fanciest moves there are. It seems as though the people who show up to learn BJJ are more interested in learning what he’s interested in, instead of learning the more important and foundational basics. How do I get these people excited about learning the basics?

You can click the link above to read the author’s response. For my own response, continue on below.

I would say that this is a challenging problem to fix. On the one hand, you have people who are meeting during their lunch hour to get some exercise, stretch out, meet new people…whatever. On the other hand, you have yourself. A blue belt who is taking Jiu-Jitsu fairly seriously. The problem is, the two sides aren’t, in your mind, meshing very well.

I suppose a questions would have to be asked of those who are showing up for these group meeting. You would need to find out why they are there. If they are simply attending for the laid back reasons I mentioned above, it’s not much use trying to teach them the foundation of what would be to come if they were as serious as you are. But if you discover that these people are actually interested in continuing on in the future, you would need to communicate the importance of learning the basics.

I know many new BJJ players aren’t encouraged to live spar, but I sometimes find that showing the new guys what they’re up against to be very motivational. There’s nothing that will teach a hotshot that he or she should respect the basics of Jiu-Jitsu faster than giving them a bit of pressure during a slow rolling demonstration. If you are a blue belt, you most certainly know how far you are able to go with these guys, so why not give them a taste of some simple “reasoning?”

Have a better answer than mine? I’d love to hear it in the comment section below.