Students and teachers in BJJ
Students and teachers in BJJ
Students and teachers in BJJ is always a great subject to discuss. There is good, but can be bad between students and teachers if loyalty isn’t produced by either side. Some of my happiest coaching memories come from watching my students teach. I have always been insistent on the idea that my students have a deep understanding of the underlying principles and concepts that underlay our approach to the game and that they be capable of explaining them well to others. As a result, my students can in almost every case, do a fine job of teaching our methods and philosophy to students of all levels and backgrounds. Here at Savarese BJJ Academy (www.njbjj.com). I try to get my students to start teaching at purplebelt. It gives them a better understanding of our concepts and by having to answer questions of the newer students, it makes them think about the techniques and concepts in a more in-depth fashion. In particular, most of my purple and brownbelt students have a complete and deep knowledge of my approach to art art of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and self defense. I would also go further and say that all of them have developed an independence and originality of thought that has taken them beyond my teachings and into their own distinctive style. I have watched my students teach and am constantly amazed by the maturity and depths of their views and their skill at conveying it to others. They all take immense pride in their knowledge and constantly work to refine and improve it. It is no exaggeration to say they are light years ahead of where I was after a similar time spent in training. This bodes well for the future of our Academy as they have so much more time to develop their skills and knowledge. All have started as beginners teachers, just like as students, and I can attest to how much learning material they offer when they teach. I love to watch them teach so that you can learn more about their method and philosophy. Watching and correcting and suggesting new things to them will help them going forward but only teaching creates the framework for the health and growth of the sport into the future.
