I have had the privilege of running my own BJJ class once a week for about a year and half, and would like to take some time to reflect on some of key lessons learned from this experience.
Getting the opportunity was simply a matter of asking. I had been a purple belt for a year, and there’d been a gap in the class schedule. At the time there was no Friday night class as there were no black or brown belts able or willing to commit to running a regular class. Back then, Friday nights were informally regarded as an open mat time, which effectively meant no one would turn up.
I broke the subject with my head instructor, at first asking how he would feel about a couple of us getting some training in at that time, as I had multiple people telling me they wanted to train on Fridays. No problem, he said. I then asked how he’d feel if I ran it as more of a regular class rather than a open mat, to which he replied that purple belts should definitely teach, both to give back to the team and help the lower belts, as well as for their own development into brown and black belt. So just like that, I had a class slot.
To have been offered free rein to structure a class however I saw fit was a tremendous opportunity to explore and experiment.. I could put to the test the theories and methodologies put forth by many outstanding coaches and practitioners, all to answer the question- what are the most efficient and effective ways to learn and teach others BJJ? …but I’m getting ahead of myself a bit. That’s a whole other topic to dive into.
First things first, I had to get the basics right.
1. Run it consistently.
It doesn’t matter how good your classes are if people think you are half as likely to not show up, leaving whoever bothered to turn up (if any) to salvage some sort of training. Nothing drops attendance and enthusiasm quicker than an inconsistent schedule. I needed to make sure people would know that either I was going to come and run the class, as expected; or I was either too sick or away from town and couldn’t be there.
What it didn’t mean though, was that I could take the night off if I wasn’t feeling particularly motivated to teach that night, or got an invite to a night out, or wanted to avoid the half hour walk through the rain and wind to play PS4 instead. I had committed to the responsibility of running a class, and I was accepted because I had promised my coach that I could be consistent at that time, week after week.
Communication is and always will be key. I set up a Facebook group, and made sure to post every Thursday letting people know what was happening. I’d tell my teammates whenever I’d see them, and post on Instagram after class to show my coaches and everyone else that the classes were in full swing, week after week.
2. Come prepared- but be prepared to adjust.
To run a good class, you have to prepare ahead of time and think about what you are going to show the people who turn up. Lack of direction in a class is obvious to those that attend. When you come prepared you take the class confidently, going from the warmup, to the techniques, and the sparring smoothly. With the right planning, a lot of ground can be covered in an hour slot.
At the same time, you have to be ready to adjust or completely scrap those carefully laid plans. Such is the case for example when you’ve planned a technical and intricate look at a specific technique, and then the only people who turn up have been training a couple months. Recognising the audience and being able to teach to the levels of the participants is critical to ensure what you’re saying and showing is being retained.
3. Don’t correct excessively.
Eve and Rener Gracie made a great video regarding teaching your SO jiu-jitsu. A key takeaway for me was that as a teacher, you must recognise that the majority of people are likely not as obsessed with jiu jitsu as you are. Therefore, they are less likely to be receptive towards being corrected on what they are doing wrong, and an excess of correction will cause their enthusiasm for you ,your class, and even jiu jitsu as a whole, to diminish.
When teaching those who see jiu jitsu as more a casual hobby than a serious commitment, you should focus on providing encouragement and positive feedback on the things they are doing well. When you see someone attempting to learn a technique for the first time and they get it 90% correct, focus on that 90% and not the 10% they could tweak. By focusing on that 90%, you will encourage them to stick with it, and eventually that 10% will correct itself over time, either by the student eventually being interested enough to ask for advice, or by sheer mat time. But if you keep pointing out the minute details that need fixing you are going to wear on most people’s willingness to train.
Remember, the vast majority of people are doing jiu jiutsu for fun, not to become high level competitors. Once again, this comes back to knowing your audience.
Yoshi's BJJ Journal 