Christmas Vacations and Jiu-Jitsu Training
Many of us will be traveling for the holidays and a few will get the opportunity to train at different JiuJitsu schools during that time. I want to share 5 pieces of advice that I have learned from my experiences traveling across the U.S. to keep in mind before you walk into another school this holiday season.
1. DO IT!!
Getting to train at a different school is a great opportunity to learn new techniques, make new friends and test your mettle against an entirely new set of training partners. Plus, it minimizes missed mat time! Traveling has been one of the most enjoyable parts of Jiu-Jitsu for me and has rewarded me with many great friendships around the country. Jiu-Jitsu people are incredibly welcoming and are typically just as excited as you are to train with someone new.
2. Call Ahead
While most schools don’t mind a drop in, sending a Facebook message or making a quick phone call a couple days in advance is a great courtesy to the school. We practice a combat sport and someone with bad intentions or inexperience has the potential to injure others. By reaching out to school owners and instructors in advance, it gives them the chance to verify who you are and sets a good tone for your upcoming visit. I personally prefer a Facebook message as social media can quickly let someone know where and who you train with and establishes that you have friendly intentions for your visit.
3. Anticipate Mat Fees
Some schools will let you drop in for free, especially if you explain that you are just dropping in from out of town. This is much more likely to happen if you give notice about your visit. You can also become a Globetrotter member (which is free and lets you visit other schools for free) and see if there are any participating schools in the area you are visiting. Also check to see if your school has in affiliate location nearby, which is a great chance to train and associate with your larger team. If there is a mat fee, it typically runs around $20 for a day or $40 if you are attending a big-name school. Out of the 16 or so different schools I have visited, only two required a mat fee in response to my inquiring. Jiu-Jitsu schools aren’t free to run, and instructors have invested years of their life developing the knowledge that they share. A small financial contribution demonstrates your appreciation.
4. Be Professional
Remember the golden rule and conduct yourself how you would want a visitor to act at your home school. The school you visit will probably never meet your professor, coach or teammates, but they will meet you and form their opinions of them based upon their interactions with you. It is likely that they do class a little differently than what you are used to. I train a school with a more relaxed atmosphere, where most of the students are either current or former military and prefer to leave the formalities at work. Some schools follow traditional Martial Arts customs though, such as bowing before walking on/off the mats, waiting to be approached by higher belts or similar courtesies. It never hurts to ask the staff when you are signing waivers to get a quick overview on their house rules. I like to grab someone the same rank as me at the school and have them be my “tour guide” until the class is in full swing.
It is okay to be a mat savage and roll like a demon to defend the honor of the patch on your back if the situation allows it, but always be polite and courteous while doing so, or you may attract the attention of the local mat enforcer. Remember too that it is a small community! Many black belts participate in online discussions, which means there is a good chance that your instructor hears back about your away game. Make sure if that happens that the feedback is positive!
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| Professor Charles Nunley |
Coach's Corner- "Make sure to check the school's gi policy before attending. Some schools have stricter guidelines than others and may require that only white gi's are to be worn or gi's with patches from other academies are not allowed."
5. Avoid the Pitfalls of Comparison and Assumption
Comparison can be a common pitfall that can occur within a school, but is even easier to fall into when traveling. Belt promotions are very subjective and promotion criteria can vary drastically between schools. That means that an experienced white belt at one school might be able to ball up all the blue belts at another, or that a purple belt gets monkey stomped by a herd of hungry blue belts that have been training for 6 years. Don’t forget that comparison is the thief of joy, and rather than be the white belt that returns from vacation and insists on a promotion, or the purple belt that leaves questioning the legitimacy of their rank, use your new training partners as an opportunity to assess your game with a fresh perspective. You will likely encounter unfamiliar styles and techniques that can reveal flaws in your game or be added to your knowledge base.
Another mistake that that is easy to make when traveling is to have assumptions when walking into class. A world champion black belt looks just like everybody else, and there’s always a chance that white belt with cauliflower ear forget their brown belt that day and borrowed the school’s. Treat everyone with equal respect and approach every roll intelligently and you’ll save yourself the embarrassment that I experienced from making those mistakes.
Summary
Training at new schools is a guaranteed way to walk away from vacation new stories for the home base, and I hope that everyone who trains gets to experience it at once. Keep these tips in mind, pack an extra gi and have safe travels and a Merry Christmas!
About Steven McMahon:
Steven McMahon earned his Kyuki-Do Black Belt in 2011 from Grand Master Kim at Kim's Black Belt Academy and his BJJ Purple Belt in January 2017 under Professor Charles Nunley. He trains out of Cornerstone BJJ in Fayetteville, NC. He is an active competitor at Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and Army Combatives tournaments.
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