Today won me over to my school. 100%.
I <3 BJJ!
First, my instructor has always been super nice to me. He said to me today, “Long time no see!” So he remembers me (okay to be fair, I’m only one of 3 women who has been to his academy in the past 3 months, so it’s not exactly easy to forget me, but still…), and he makes me feel very welcome.
Second, he helped me out with the financial situation and will let me pay for this month in 2 weeks, so I get to train this month.
Next, the instructor was playing around with the children in our class. There are two kids in the class–one little girl and one little boy. Actually, the girl called me yesterday and said “Julia, where are you?” It was totally sweet. So the instructor was playing around with them, being silly, roaring, and picking them up. I loved watching him interact with them.
Finally, and this really was the clincher, he rolled with me! The last time I was in, he was my drilling partner! This is the first time an instructor has ever rolled with me, and it was FUN and a very cool way to connect.
So, I LOVE the instructor at my BJJ academy. The feel is absolutely what I’ve been looking for–relaxed, welcoming, and fun, coupled with skill and good rolling partners.
What about you? What do you love about your BJJ academy?
My new academy is awesome as well. The first thing I noticed is that everyone to a man or woman has come up to me and introduced themselves to me and started a conversation. In my last academy that didn’t happen. I initiated 98% of the conversations, which was awkward as a a new person. (I didn’t feel accepted or included.)
There are also a lot of Blues, Purples and Browns. We also have a Black Belt (the owner). Not only did the owner roll with me the first day, but he also gave me about 10 pointers that upgraded my game substantially. With all of the higher level belts I feel as if I get a private session every time I have visited.
Practices are laid back too. In my last academy the owner controlled every second of class and we barely rolled. Here I have the opportunity to drill and roll. I feel like my game has exploded.
But, that is why I love where I train.
That’s awesome to finally feel included and welcome! Congrats on finding a good fit for you!
I love my academy because of the other people who train there… because we train 7 days a week, 365 days a year, and average 6 hours of jiu jitsu classes a day (sometimes more like 9)… and that’s not counting the MMA/muay thai classes…. because it’s super cheap… because it’s like family! And we have 3 blackbelts with 3 very different kinds of games (and at least a dozen browns, ditto) so there’s always alternative perspectives to consider….
You are such a definition of an addict. 😀
I’ve had lots of good instructors, but the reasons I love training at Kev’s school are firstly Kev himself is so approachable. I regularly roll with him, and he is always ready to answer any questions. Many times I’ve asked him something, and he’ll immediately show me a technique or demonstrate a concept to answer my question.
I also like his integrity. I get the strong impression that it definitely isn’t all about money for him. For a start, he’s got a bunch of payment options. which is getting increasingly rare: almost everywhere else, you have to sign up for several months. With Kev, I can pay for a block of lessons and use them up whenever I want.
Back when I was paying monthly, he insisted on cutting the price in half for the first month because I signed up during the middle of it. Again, not many instructors I know of that would do that (although I can think of at least a couple of others who have done something comparable or even let me or friends train for free, which means they similarly have my respect and loyalty).
The school itself is small and friendly, with lots of excellent training partners who will take the time to really think through a technique with you during drilling. They also always offer productive advice after sparring, which is a massive help.
Finally, I like the way Kev structures his classes. There will almost always be two sides to every lesson (e.g., maintaining mount and escape mount, or a guard pass and a sweep). He’s detailed, with a relaxed teaching style, so he’ll also often ask people what they’d like to learn when we get to the advanced class, and modify his plans depending on the response.
That’s really great that you like his personality AND his teaching style!
At this point, I’d rather take a personality style I like and a teaching style I don’t than the opposite.
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This may be an older post, but I think it’s eternally relevant.
I don’t want to write a novel, so I’ll list some points.
1. My instructor has gone out of his way to make a real relationship with me since the day I began. Now, at purple belt, he is one of my best friends outside of jiu-jitsu.
2. His technical ability is the best in my area and he doesn’t even talk about it.
3. I’ve rolled with him several times per week since white belt.
4. He is ALWAYS willing to do a mini private right after class to cover a question I have (free of any charge.)
5. He nurtures an atmosphere of competitive safe brotherhood. Or, should I say, humanhood. lol
I like this one, Jiujiu, perhaps I’ll write a response if you are okay with it.
That’s very cool! Thanks for commenting! Please link to it if you write a response on your blog – if you link to this article, it will show a “pingback” to your article, which may also drive traffic to you!
Hey I just checked out your blog because I wasn’t sure if you were the purple or he was (oh those misplaced modifiers). I subscribed. I hope that you keep writing about your journey – I see that you’ve been steadily blogging since August 2012. Awesome. I also am going to steal your archival page idea – clean up my side bar.
Your instructor sounds like a keeper! Amazing!
I will definitely link to this post if I write about it. Thanks for checking out the blog, and sorry about the confusion! I definitely plan to keep on writing. One day I’ll look back and be happy that I documented everything.
By all means, steal away!
I did it! Hopefully we can get some more bloggers doing the same. That would be great to learn about all the different academies other bloggers train at.
Here’s the linky:
http://bjjgrappling.com/brazilian-jiu-jitsu-school-in-sacramento/
Excellent!! I’ll leave a new comment on yours – my article is a bit old, so some things are different.