Where are you going Jei? Well let me tell you...
Lately, especially after this last tournament defeat, I have been contemplating a lot about "my game" and it has driven me to embark on this journey that hopefully will birth a new and improved me (meanwhile, maybe I can write on the subject and help a few people out as well). The journey starts with going back and looking at how I initially started the journey in the first place. I am still a baby blue belt, sometimes I feel like a fetus...not even a recognizable BJJ practitioner! Yet, I have started on this path of prematurely developing a game without even gaining a basic understanding of BJJ as a whole.
Specializing is not a bad thing, hell at the top levels of jiu-jitsu you see guys who specialize in specific positions all the time! But those guys are black belts, and one thing we can't do as lower level belts (white and blue) is fall into the trap of thinking we are capable of doing that. since most of us lack the mat time. I don't know how many times I have told myself I am a open guard player, and that I don't like passing guard and playing closed guard, so I don't (don't think I'm letting you off the hook either reader, lol). I have also seen many people forsake a certain aspect of jiu-jitsu, to focus primarily on one or two things. As we develop in the art, we should be mindful that the longer we allow for a certain aspect of jiu-jitsu to be uncharted territory, the longer it will take to fix because it has developed into a habit.
I had a pretty high ranking guy say to me one day, "I feel like I should still be a purple belt, because all these blues and purples are taking my back and choking me out!" Now how long do you think it is going to take this poor fella to correct the issue, compared to someone who hasn't developed the habit yet of giving up his back and just does it out of inexperience? Don't answer that. Eventually your flaws will come out, and you don't want to be a black or brown belt going back to square one, figuring out why you get your back taken 10x a night.
Pause for a little introspection: This is why my "game" doesn't translate well to competition, because there are people from "other planets" out there, and I decided to stay on the one that I was most comfortable with. Not only am I not use to responding to other positions, submissions, etc. I am not training efficiently and using my mat time wisely. If you go in the gym and do the same thing all the time, you will probably win matches...but never consistently win tournaments.
Experimentation, exploration and trial and error is the only way to get a complete look and comprehension of the BJJ Galaxy as a whole. Asking questions from more experienced grapplers and doing what the pros do also expands your knowledge of maybe the darkest corners of jiu-jitsu. The best advice I can give myself and all you other noobs out there is to explore all areas of jiu-jitsu and don't settle in a place where you feel comfortable. Thanks for reading!
