It's never too late to learn

Recently, I was surprised with an early birthday present (from my wish list) kindly given by Fidael. I will be turning a grand 39 this year and hope to acquire all the wisdom that comes with the number.

Well, in my case, the wisdom comes in the form of a DVD & book combo by Alberto Crane (2002 BJJ World Champion) entitled "Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Advance). I'm not really here to review the book (as good as it is) but its printed in Japanese and English and details out his (1) Omoplata, (2) Guard Pass, (3) Spider guard (I like), (4) Sitting Guard (very hard!) and (5) Back control games. He's a black belt after all and obviously a good one with the world medal so he's got a thing or two to share with us.

I have scanned briefly over the book and my initial thoughts were the same feeling when I first looked at Renzo and Royler Gracie's "Brazilian Jiu Jitsu - Theory and Technique" book about three years back. I kind of understand what they are saying now, can pull off a few techniques and willing to put myself in a bad position to try new things from what I can remember. I guess what this means is that we should always look at each training session as an opportunity to learn and to put ourselves at risk (intentionally dropping our defenses or imposing some form of handicap without informing your training partner) so that we can experiment and learn how to defend from certain positions or holds.

More often than not, we will find a way to escape, defend and counter, when we go back to the fundamentals. I spent my first 3 years looking for unorthodox and unusual set up, movements and counters from unusual positions because I didn't understand or couldn't do the fundamental positions and techniques because all my training partners at the time we so much better than me. Over time, I started to realise that I needed to simplify the movements and control positions in order for me to pull off defenses and submissions. Its essence is hip movement. I've heard it from day 1 ~ from Sam, from Adam - don't let the opponent control your hips. Adam related his training with Ze Mario (from Brazilian Top Team) on how he would never let anyone get past his thighs at the most as if he had an invisible Swiss ball on his stomach which he constant rolled over to protect his center. In a self defense environment, it would make a lot of sense to protect your stomach from being attacked and while free from hindrance or control, you were free to move about and retaliate.

While we are busy training, planning, strategizing about concepts and techniques like this, along the way, we are recognised of our understanding and application of technique by some stripes and eventually coloured belts. I don't know about you but to some people its a really big deal. In a sense, any achievement is an achievement. However, for every milestone we reach, there are further and higher goals yet to be accomplished. At the risk of sounding cliched, one man's mountain is another man's hill. By this I mean, that if we keep looking forward to higher and more challenging objectives, we recognise that we are always learning, growing and hopefully becoming better people along the way.

After your first class, your wins and losses on the mats mean nothing but everything at the same time. Without the experience harvested from training you will not progress. For every time I get a submission, I ask myself to study how I could have made it better, with tighter control and precision, combination and set up. For every tap, I ask myself to see how I could have prevented being caught in that position and look for escapes, hip movements, making space. Either case, I win by having something to learn from both. If I concentrate on the joy of getting a submission or sulk in misery over a tap, I am not doing anyone any favours, lest of all, myself as I deny my chances for learning and growing.

Three years ago, if you had asked me, I have would told you that I do not aspire to become a BJJ coach, even though today, I sometimes assume that role, and armed with my very limited knowledge of BJJ, I must apologize for any mistakes or omissions I have committed in my duties as a stand-in coach. I offer what I know, and I do what I can but I never claim to know it all, which leads me back to the Mr. Alberto Crane's book. It is indeed an advanced text and at a of what is required to go to my "next mountain". I know what needs to be done and understand how to do it, and with a 39 year-old body, I hope to do the best I can. My goal for the next 3 years will be "control". Is 3 years a long time for a single goal? Not really. I have invested over 1,150 hours (not including privates, seminars, books and DVD study) in the last 3 years to be at my present level and I have enjoyed every minute of it. It's a worthwhile pursuit and I hope to share my enthusiasm and enjoyment with you.

Please bear with me while I pursue this direction and I look forward to meeting you all soon back on the KDT ocean.