“The Light Bulb”

As students, it’s often easy to dismiss a technique as, “not for me”. Sometimes, we might feel a move is “too difficult”, or that it doesn’t fit “our” game. However, I’ve found that drilling techniques we don’t like right now will often help our BJJ growth.

A long time ago, JoJo said that not every technique will work out exactly the way he teaches it, but we should still see the opportunities.

While I've had tons of these experiences in my BJJ carereer – so far, two stick out:

• The first was when JoJo introduced me to the “Brabo Choke”. I was stuck in the half-guard of a skilled guard player. Suddenly, he moved to a position that resembled position that JoJo had said was ideal for the submission. I went for it, and quickly got the tap;
• The second time was just a couple of weeks ago. While I’ve had plenty of instruction from JoJo and Tito Hartz about leg locks in the past. They’ve never really been at the top of my list, but last week JoJo taught us a different variation, and my eyes were opened. While I wasn’t able to do exactly what JoJo taught, the blinders came off and I found myself in a whole new world.
  

A day later, a group of ECU students and I were talking. Amid the laughing and joking, many of us admitted that our favorite submissions were the result of a similar experience.

Our teachers give us the map to success. It’s up to us to find the right route.