Must be a natural
Him: Whoa, you’re really good at that [move].
Me: It only took me 22 years. Must be a natural.
My elbow injury was the first one that I’ve had in a while.
Since I couldn’t go to the gym, I’ve been catching up on work – Scenic Fights and otherwise, as well as watching a few videos.
This fella named John Danaher – whom I used to run into alla time back in my club days – is probably the most well-respected BJJ coach on the planet.
He’s made a lotta the biggest names in the sports.
Anywho, I came across the below video of him explaining his teaching methods and it really made me think.
My very first coach would regularly completely flip out – I mean screaming in the gym like a madman, making grown men cry in front of everyone, physically assaulting his own students – when you didn’t do the move exactly as he did them or any one of a thousand little offenses to him.
Spent (well) over a decade with him with almost nothing to show for the time – a ton of other people had the same experience.
Recently, however, my skill has been expanding by leaps and bounds, precisely because I just started doing things that felt right to me.
Danaher even mentions that the goal isn’t to make robots that fight just like the coach but express themselves their own way – that’s the “art” side of “marital arts.”
That’s what my old coach never seems to have gotten.
Don’t think he realizes just how many people absolutely despise him for how much of their time he wasted.
While he certainly wasted a ton of my time, I don’t hate him.
Quite the opposite. I feel so much pity for him.
He wanted nothing more than to be a great coach but, instead, he’s just become a lightning rod of ridicule at best and full-on animosity at worst.
He’s had some stellar students, to be sure, but I gotta think that’s more a testament to their own innate skill than anything he did.
What a heartbreakingly sad thing: To be so profoundly bad at the one thing you based your entire life upon.
Location: home, with a bad back and elbow
Mood: bleary-eyed
Music: It’s not right, not okay, say the words that you say (Spotify)
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