Our Sensei

One day I was reading a comment on the blog, and someone referred to Conan as “Our Sensei”. This phrase struck me as odd because we would never refer to any Sensei that way in Karate, as there are so many of them. But in Jiu-Jitsu it is appropriate, because he is the only one. That made me think about the awesome responsibility that lies on his shoulders. I don’t believe there is another Sensei at the dojo who regularly teaches more than two classes a week, but on a good week Conan teaches five. How many of us can even make it to the dojo that often, just as students? Now, it could be that he has no life, so he has plenty of free time to come and teach us, but I suspect that he sacrifices a lot. He does so not just because of his love for Jiu-Jitsu, but because of his desire to share his knowledge.

At one convention Franco Sanguinetti-Sensei talked about truly appreciating your teachers. He said that you never really know all of the things that they had to go through to earn the knowledge that they are sharing with you. You don’t know all of the injuries that they have sustained, all of the time taken away from their families, all of the pain that they have endured. It’s easy to look at them and think that they were just born with the knowledge they are imparting to you, but their path was just as hard as yours is.

So, thank you to Conan for being “Our Sensei”. If not for him, there would be no Team Jiu-Jitsu Fighter, no blog, and most likely no Jiu-Jitsu class at Roseberry’s. He stepped up and has created a program that we can all thrive in, and be proud of. His only pay is the satisfaction of seeing all of us progress and learn the art that he so loves. He’s not seeking appreciation or respect, but we should give it to him anyway.