Information wars: I always feel that in the history of human conflict, access to information and the ability to use it to advantage, has almost always been the deciding factor in victory or defeat. Most people always attribute victory to attributes like toughness, size, experience etc. yet history shows many examples of smaller nations that possessed information on some technical innovation along with the will to use it, defeating many larger nations. So too, in jiu jitsu. I put a premium on information/knowledge over all other factors. That is not to say the other factors are unimportant, just less so than information/knowledge. This shows when the squad goes to teach to fans of our approach. We work hard to convey information in ways that students can rapidly understand and assimilate into their own game. This often involves a tricky balancing act between painting a big picture to give students a general sense of direction; along with the fine details to enable them to realize that direction. Here I am going over some of the details of our ashi garami system in Singapore as people get a good look at how we transmit an unusual degree of force into our opponents knees and ankles. It's always easier to convince people when you have students using the exact same techniques to defeat world class opponents the night before! I also got a chance to enjoy Garry Tonon and Nicky Ryan teaching their own variations of our approach to a fascinated crowd. Like all my students, they teach as well as they compete – only much more well mannered and spoken than me! Of course there are many factors in your jiu jitsu development, but I have always found that making knowledge/information the bedrock upon which all the others rest leads to the most sustained long term progress in the sport.
