For anyone that has ever attend a martial arts class,
watched a kung fu film, or talked to someone who does martial arts, they know
that humility is something that is preached.
To be sure, humility is an important part of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu as well.
However, the road to humility and the vehicle through which it is taught, is a
lot different than many other martial arts.
Kanye knows about humility
I have had my fair share of experiences in martial arts. I
took Tae Kwon Do and Shurite as a child. As a college student I participated in
Judo and Hapkido.
Shuri...what?
In all of these disciplines respect and humility is preached.
Often times a creed is recited before and after class. There are symbols for
the concepts of humility and respect hung on the wall (typically in an Asian language).
I think this is great, especially for kids. In our school and all the others I
have trained at, there is less of an emphasis on overtly talking about the
importance of respect. As a result of the structure of BJJ, there is not really a
need for this verbosity.
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| Here are some symbols for humility...or from a take out menu. It could be either. |
At it’s core, Jiu Jitsu is an art/sport where people compete
against each other every class. As a result, humility and respect get infused
into the culture for about 45-60 minutes at the end of class (when we try to choke or break someone's arm). If someone thinks
they are the best person on the mat, they will get a chance to prove it. If they
submit everyone that night, they will have to do it the next night, and the
night after that. Eventually, that person will get subbed. In that moment,
there is probably going to be a reckoning with the high opinion they hold of themselves.
Often times, participants quickly learn that it is far easier to be happy to
have the opportunity to learn and quietly celebrate when they get a submission
against an upper belt or congratulate a person when they are submitted. In addition, when applying a submission to a training partner, it is always in my mind to be safe...at some point that person will catch me and I hope they return the favor.
About 4 years ago, we were getting ready to start class when
a very muscular ex-service man came in. He had tribal tattoos and lifted a lot
at the gym (so he was pretty certain we knew he was for realz). As we were warming up he turns to our coach and says, “I already
know this stuff. I have got armbars you guys ain’t never seen. I just want to
roll live.” In that moment our coach was faced with two choices, explain the
importance of humility and respect. Let the student know that BJJ is a process
and takes many long hours of improvement before a person gets better, etc. Or, let him role
with one of his students and experience why humility and respect are a
virtue. To our enjoyment, he picked option number 2!
Enter my good friend Ned (not his real name). Ned is an
outstanding competitor. He is also somewhat of an enforcer for our class. This
is a good thing, every class needs a Bob Probert.
Bob who????
Our coach set the clock for
six minutes, the young man made it maybe 2 minutes against Ned. Clearly, he had arm bars
we had never seen. The problem was, they were really ineffective.
Essentially, the match looked like this
2 side points: 1) I am categorically against beating up on
new people and teammates. That is a dick move, it ruins a club. 2) There is a lot of hyperbole around respect and humility in BJJ. There are pictures of chiseled swarthy men in gis, staring menacingly into the camera, with captions like, "Lions eat elephants which are bigger than them, so be nice.....OSSSS!!!"
| Like this. I want to believe it, it's in black and white! |
I don't think we need all that. The beauty of BJJ is that it self regulates egos through challenging a person's skill. After a person gets beaten so many times, they either become humble or become an ex-BJJ participant. This wasn't a case of a new guy getting picked on, it was a person who needed a reality check of their skill level. After his beating, he faked an injury, said he would be back next class and never returned. He could have been a great guy, he could have been Charles Manson, I don't know. What I do know, he wasn't ready to participate in BJJ at that point.
We have a lot of different personalities at our gym. We have had (at most) one or two instances where someone has had to step between two guys that were
ready to fight. Honestly, a person doesn’t need to fight in class to assert their
dominance in BJJ. Everyone in class knows that by the end of class that will
have taken care of itself.
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