The Culture is the Key…
I felt like a good coach today. Probably for a reason different than you’d expect if you were looking from the outside. We had ten women in our Women’s Jiu Jitsu Class this afternoon. Most of the time, we have about four, maybe six. The number doesn’t really matter. At the same time, numbers always have an impact on the energy of a class.
Why did I feel like a good coach? Well, because in today’s class, I wasn’t the only one coaching. I had paired up two of my students who would be considered “the least brand new” with two of the most brand new people on the mat. I picked them on purpose to pair with the newbies, as I trusted they would be willing, encouraging, and safe training partners for these women who maybe were still wondering if they made a mistake by showing up to a grappling class. Showing up the first time takes more courage than most people realize, and is enough to keep many from ever trying.
On top of that, who you work with in your first class can make a major impact on how long you stay on the mats.
The typical class structure has a warm-up, technique drilling, and sparring. After demonstrating a technique, everyone pairs off and drills the move(s) assigned. This is the main chunk of our class and the section where I get to spend time helping each group with details and making sure everyone understands what they’re doing. With two brand new members and another pairing of pretty recent beginners, I could’ve spent the entire time just with those groups, breaking down the information to their level. Not ideal when you have another six people to think about in addition to the four newbies.
Tonight, with the pairing intentional, my “least brand new” students took the reins during the drilling time and gave wonderful assistance to their partners. As I walked around and monitored, I could hear each of them breaking down the technique one step at a time, maintaining patience and encouragement the whole way. Looking around, all I saw were smiles. That’s not entirely unusual for Women’s Class–we often operate pretty lightheartedly–but frustration can still creep in if a move isn’t clicking or turns are taking a long time. Tonight, everyone was present and united, invested in each other’s training, making space for being unsure or needing help, asking questions, and also trying new things. From a coaching perspective–absolute success.
This is the culture we have created on our mats in Women’s Class. And moments like this aren’t unusual. We had a brand newbie in our class over the weekend too. When it was time to split into pairs, I heard one of our students say “I want to work with the new girl, I want her to have fun today and to come back” before leaving her group of usual partner options and pointing at our ‘new girl’ telling her she had been claimed. The pride I feel in our group when these moments hit is hard to describe. Each of them spent their first days being welcomed, encouraged, and allowed to take up space and be terrible at jiu jitsu. And that is precisely why they take up the torch as they progress, and another fills the space of “newest member”. Nice work, gals.
