Every one of us was once the new guy (or girl) on the mat. If you're still that person, congratulations on making one of the best decisions of your life.....keep going. You won't be the new guy for long! This post is directed to those of you who have kept showing up, class after class, year after year, and one day you look down and see that blue, purple, brown or even black cloth around your waist that once seemed unimaginable and that you thought you would never achieve. You now find yourself in the position of being one of the upper ranks and taking on more of a leadership role within the academy. In general, blue belts are still relative newbies in Jiu-jitsu. But even achieving this first belt promotion is a huge step. Your primary focus at blue belt should still be on your own development. However, depending upon the size of your academy and how established the program is, even at this level, you may find yourself taking on more of a leadership role, and becoming a mentor for the newer white belts. At purple belt & beyond, you will definitely start to embrace this role even more, whether you want to acknowledge it or not. It is simply a reality that the newer students will look to you for guidance and support. Being a leader on the team isn't always easy, and it does come with some responsibility.....but it shouldn't be overwhelming either. So how can you embrace this role successfully and help those around you in a way that benefits both of you and the entire team?
I think the first thing that a good leader needs to do is to be a good follower. Lead by example. The newer students are watching you, and they will learn much more from your actions, than from your words. It is always more effective and authentic to show & inspire others, rather than to tell them how to do it. Be the person that you want those new white belts to become. The leaders on the team are the ones who set and maintain a high standard on & off the mat, and encourage others to do the same. It is extremely important, at every level, to always still be a student. None of us have it all figured out. We are all walking the same path, some of us just started before others. The best way to be a good leader is to strive to be a great student. None of us are perfect, so it is important to frequently, and honestly, evaluate our own performance. Are you coming to class consistently? Do you show up just to open mats and sparring, or are you showing up for instruction & drilling, including fundamentals classes? Are you the person that shows up consistently late & misses the warm ups, or are you the first one to step on the mat and take advantage of the extra time to drill and review? Are you the first one out the door after class, or do you hang out to get a few extra reps, get one extra round, ask questions, & help clean the mats after class? What's your attitude like? Do you portray an air of positivity & helpfulness? Do you really pay attention to the details during instruction and really try to understand even the most basic techniques at a higher level, or do you just go through the motions because you "already know it"? Do you take advantage of drilling time to really get some good quality reps in with high attention to detail, or do you spend more of your time socializing? How is your posture/composure/etiquette on the mat? How do you conduct yourself outside of the mat? Are you a good representative of your academy? Do you truly try to live the Jiu-jitsu lifestyle, pay attention to good health habits, & try to be a positive influence in your community? All of us slip up from time to time, but what's important is that we are always trying to hold ourselves accountable and striving to be better versions of ourselves. I think that this is by far, the most important attribute of a good leader!
As you start to gain some experience on the mat, you find the newer students looking to you for help & advice. Some people are very comfortable with taking on this role (sometimes too much so....remember, be a student FIRST). Others may not feel comfortable at all. Every academy is different and every instructor has different expectations. These are some general guidelines to help you navigate this responsibility, but remember to always check with your specific instructor as to how these may apply to your situation.
Be a Mentor
For many people, just walking through the door to a Jiu-jitsu academy and getting on the mat for the first time can be overwhelming & intimidating. You might have had that same feeling the first time that you stepped on the mat. Hopefully, someone took care of you and made you feel welcome on your first day. Help the new student to feel comfortable. Be proactive. Go up to them and introduce yourself, help show them how to get on the mat and how to tie their belt. These little things go a long way towards that person coming back and hopefully eventually developing the same passion for Jiu-jitsu that you have. Find a new white belt and take them under your wing. Show some genuine interest in their development. You will both benefit from it. Give them a call or send them a message and check up on them periodically, particularly if you haven't seen them in class lately. If you've been on the mat for a while, you know how easy it can be to fall out of the habit of training, and that little extra motivation can sometimes make all the difference in someone sticking with Jiu-jitsu for the long term. Seek out the white belts. They are the life blood of any successful academy. If you treat them well and take care of them, they have the potential to become one of your best training partners one day. Make it your responsibility to make them good at Jiu-jitsu, so that they can, in turn, push on you and help you to be better!
Help the White Belts
In our academy, I expect for all of our blue belts & above to seek out the white belts during fundamentals classes and help them. If possible, every white belt should be working with one of the more experienced students. I don't like to see two blue or purple belts working together in these classes, when there are white belts paired up together. For the newer white belts, it is the blind leading the blind, and this can lead to a lot of confusion & frustration. In the advanced classes, the upper belts should absolutely pair up together. However, fundamentals classes are more geared towards the beginners, and by helping them try to understand these basic techniques, the more advanced students will often find that they start to understand these positions better as well.
Go First
During drilling, the upper rank should always go first. Hopefully, as the person with more experience on the mat, they will have a better general understanding of how to get through the technique. This gives the newer student the opportunity to see and feel the movement a few more times, before stumbling their way through it. The best way for them to learn the move is for you to show it to them by actually doing it. Make sure to get an adequate number of reps (preferably at least 5 times) before switching.
Don't Re-Teach the Move
This is an easy trap to fall into with the best of intentions....but it's not helping your partner. The instructor has just spent the last 5 minutes teaching and demonstrating the move for the entire class, and then tells the students to pair up and rep it out. The upper belt then spends the next 5-10 minutes re-teaching the move to their partner, explaining what they believe to be the important details, and then there is no time left to actually practice the move. If you have a good instructor, they already explained it sufficiently. You may be aware of details of the move that the instructor didn't show. Do you think it's because they forgot or they don't know? There is a reason that they didn't explain these details yet. Especially with newer students, less is more. Don't waste time re-explaining the move, just get the reps. Lead by example and go first. Sometimes, you will have a partner who encourages this by asking a lot of questions right off the bat. It is tempting to want to explain everything to them, but the best way is to say, "here, let me show you", and start repping the move, and encouraging them to do the same. It is likely once they make it through the move a few times, they will already answer their own questions. You can make minor adjustments as you go, but the white belts need reps, not theory.
Be a Good Training Partner
White belts don't have a perspective yet on what Jiu-jitsu is. It is all very overwhelming and chaotic in the beginning. In order for a new student to become proficient at a technique, they must first establish a connection to it, and believe in it. It is important for them to have some success with the technique early on. This will encourage them to keep working on it and making small improvements. If they can't get the technique to work, at least reasonably well, in the early stages, they are likely to just get frustrated and think that the technique is ineffective or unimportant, and this will directly affect their enthusiasm for learning the technique. Sometimes, you have to do the move for them. Think about it like spotting someone when lifting weights. In the beginning, you may be holding most of the weight. Gradually, as they perfect their form and become more comfortable, you are less and less involved, to the point where they are holding most of the weight. This is the same process in learning Jiu-jitsu. You have to guide their movements, so that they can get through the move from start to finish somewhat correctly. If you do it right, your partner may not even be aware that you are helping them. It is important for them to feel what it feels like to get the movement right. As they get more reps and become more comfortable, you do less of the work for them, until they can do it on their own, smoothly, from start to finish. It is important that you are also aware of creating the right situation for the move. You have to create the appropriate posture & energy for the move to be successful, without giving resistance! Resistance can be gradually added later, once the student is very familiar and comfortable with the move.
Be very aware of your partner's safety. Most injuries in Jiu-jitsu can be prevented through experience and awareness. Unfortunately, the most likely time for a student to take an injury is early in their training, before they have developed this mat awareness and sensitivity. A serious injury taken early in the process of learning Jiu-jitsu will likely result in that student never getting back on the mat. It is your responsibility to protect your partner. Make sure that they know how and when to tap. Make sure that they are very comfortable with how to breakfall before doing any type of throwing technique. Make sure that they know how to properly drop into base before loading any weight for throws. Be aware of your space on the mat to avoid incidental contact by or with those around you. Encourage your partner to go slow, stay relaxed, and not rely on trying to force techniques through too much muscle.
In our academy, we don't allow brand new students to participate in live sparring until they get a few classes under their belts and have some idea of what they are doing. When you're working with a new student in live training, remember that your goal is to teach them, not to smash them. We all probably remember that helpless feeling of drowning the first time we ever did any live sparring in Jiu-jitsu with an upper rank. There is a delicate balance of giving the newer students the experience of the power of what Jiu-jitsu is, and making sure that they have a positive experience so that they want to get back on the mat again. As they get comfortable moving on the mat, you can let them drown a little bit, but you have to throw them the life ring! Focus on specific positional sparring in the beginning, to narrow the focus and take some of the chaos out of the equation (simply passing the guard, or maintaining the mount, for example), and try to give just enough resistance that your partner starts to get the feel for live training, while guiding them and helping them to make adjustments. Again, safety is paramount. Keep the pace slow, and the intensity low. New students don't yet know how to move to protect themselves, so you have to make sure that 1) they are kept under control so that they don't hurt you, and 2) you protect them from hurting themselves.
Respect the White Belt Experience
With more time on the mat, your perspective and your understanding of Jiu-jitsu changes. Things that you find simple, almost mindless, like shrimping and standing up in base are actually very challenging and complex movements to a beginner. It is not fair to expect the newer white belt to have your understanding of what Jiu-jitsu is. Despite their best efforts and intentions, they just can't. Allow them to have the white belt experience. Stick with the fundamentals and keep it simple. While newer students may be enthralled with more flashy looking techniques, they must develop their foundation first, in order to be capable of understanding these more complex movements later. Encourage them to stick with the basics and to learn them well. They don't need a lot of variations. Simple is better. You may have a personal variation that you prefer to use, that you have developed through your own experience on the mat. It doesn't mean that your way of applying the move is wrong, but if everyone shows the new white belt a slightly different way to do, for example, a basic armbar, it becomes even more difficult for them to learn how to do it. They need consistency & repetition. Save your more advanced techniques and personal variations for the advanced classes or open mat time when working with other students at your level.
In our academy, we start every fundamentals class with a short review period, for students to pair up and review the techniques that they have been going over in recent classes. Hopefully, the upper belts are already seeking out the new white belts to work with during this time. However, it should be kept in mind that this is a review time, NOT a time to teach them new moves. Ask them what they remember going over recently in class, and help them to get some good reps in. Even if they only remember one or two moves, just get some good reps and review what they already know. It is tempting to want to start teaching them all of the other moves that you know, but if you show them 3 or 4 new techniques, they are already mentally tapped out before the actual class instruction even starts. It is just not possible for a new student to learn and retain 8-10 new moves in a single training session. Review what they already know, and this will set a good foundation for them to add a couple new techniques during class.
Be a Good Representative of Your Academy/Team
Be an advocate for your training partners and an active participant in your team and academy. Show up to class consistently and with a great attitude. Spread the word about your academy and encourage your friends to come in and try it out. If you find it beneficial, chances are some of them may too. If you really believe in the positive benefits of training Jiu-jitsu, why would you keep that from your friends and family? Participate in seminars, special events, get togethers outside of training. Show up to support your teammates who are competing in tournaments, even if you're not. It is up to you how much you choose to be involved in the team, but I promise that every bit of energy that you put into the team will come back to you many times over. Most importantly, remember that you represent yourself, your instructor, your academy, and your team on & off the mat, so conduct yourself accordingly and be the type of person that your team is proud to have representing them. Lead by example!
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