It takes a village: one of the greatest things about our sport is that it's a club sport where the best athletes in the game work out daily alongside regular members of the gym. In most sports, elite athletes are carefully shielded away from ordinary folk – you won't see Lebron James working out with average Joe players. In grappling and Jiu jitsu there is no separation between the elite and the recreational player. The result is that MANY recreational players develop a shocking high level of skill over the years, just in virtue of constantly working out with world class competitors and being exposed to the same techniques and tactics as them. I have seen many cases of recreational players give a very hard time indeed to visiting world champions – I don't think you would see that in many sports. This is a wonderful thing – as the great rule is that THE stronger THE ROOM OVERALL – THE better THE BEST MEMBERS OF THAT ROOM WILL BECOME. It becomes the rising tide that lifts all boats – some may float higher than others but all rise to some degree. Just as they say it takes a village to raise a child, so it takes a room to raise a champion – and the better that room overall, the better the champions who come out of it.
