The foundation of your game: The essential nature of Jiu Jitsu is that it is built around the idea that your first responsibility is to REMOVE THE DANGER OF THE WORST CASE SCENARIO. The worst case scenario is always that of an opponent getting past your legs and into superior upper body pins from where he can pick and choose his attacks whilst you can do nothing in return. As such, the foundation of your Jiu Jitsu journey must always be the two skills of GETTING OUT OF PINS and stopping SOMEONE GETTING PAST YOUR LEGS AND PINNING YOU. Thus it is the skills of pin escapes and GUARD RETENTION that you must master first. Without these prerequisites all the other skills of Jiu Jitsu are of little practical value. You may have a fine arm bar or triangle, but if your opponent brushes past your guard and pins you you simply will never get a chance to use it. Even worse, if you know you struggle to get out of pins or your guard is easy to pass, you will stop YOURSELF from using your arm bar and triangle for fear of the risk of getting pinned if it does not work. So whenever beginner students or students with a confidence issue (afraid to pull the trigger when opportunity presents itself) come to me for advice on what they should focus on first, my answer is almost always – PIN escapes and GUARD RETENTION. These two skills will be the foundation upon which you can build a game that can take you far. Without them the best you will achieve is a hit and miss Jiu Jitsu and as your opponent's get better – far more misses than hits. As long as they can't pass your guard you will always be capable of offense from bottom position. Ironically it is your defensive skills that will determine the reach and extent of your offensive skills. Take pride in being UNPINNABLE and UNPASSABLE (impassable) – only then will you be able to achieve your final goal of attacks that are UNSTOPPABLE
