Freedom of Information Act

This is my theory about teaching. Teach my students everything I know with the goal being to mold them into becoming better practitioners than I am. I don’t adhere to the idea that knowledge is power; in the sense that by keeping certain bits of information to myself will help me maintain a superior edge in grappling skill over others. In fact, I’ve found the opposite to be true. By teaching my students to be the best they can be and by not withholding any information, I’ve found this helps them and me to get better as well. As my students’ skill levels increase, this forces me to continually work on improving my skill level.

I give my students a lot of credit. There is such a wide range of skill level and ability to learn. With so much talent on the mat on any given day, I rarely consider myself the sole source of information. Everyone is helping everyone to get better. If for some reason I ever thought about withholding information, there are dozens of other sources available to get that information. It could be from another student or the Internet. Resources for BJJ techniques and information is virtually at anyone’s fingertips nowadays. My point is that I would rather be the one providing the instruction with the confidence that the information is correct.

Now don’t get me wrong, I’ve always encouraged folks to learn outside of the dojo. There’s a lot of good information in books, DVD’s and short technique clips. Several times a week someone will come to me with a question about a “new” technique they saw on a video. Sometimes a student will want to show me something and ask what I think about it. I think all of that is great because it shows me that a student is taking the initiative and going above and beyond to improve their Jiu-Jitsu.

About one month ago, during open mat, I was grappling with a newer student. Out of nowhere he threw a Gogoplata on me! It was unexpected to say the least. I knew I hadn’t taught it to him, and I knew he came to our dojo with virtually no ground fighting experience, so how did he learn this advanced technique? I defended it as best I could. Being that he was still a newer student he kept up the submission attempt longer than he should have and got burned out. However, in the meantime I was forced to experience some pain and really had to work to get out of it.

Afterward, I was able to go over the technique with him in more detail so that he could perform it better the next time. If he had come to me previously, asking about the Gogoplata, and if I had turned him away, telling him that it was an advanced technique, would that have stopped him from wanting to learn it and use it? I think not.

My final thoughts on this subject are that I certainly encourage white belts to stick with the curriculum and not get bogged down with higher level techniques that require a lot more skill. Don’t get overly anxious to learn a bunch of new fancy techniques. Remember that it is mastery of the basics that will carry you through for the long haul. We all must learn to crawl before we walk, and walk before we run. Babies can’t read you know? Oh wait, I guess they can now.