If you want to understand something – teach it: When someone becomes my student I always teach them TWO skills. The first is the one everyone knows about – excellent performance in Jiu jitsu. The second is much less widely known. I teach all my students to teach. This forces them to be able to articulate exactly what they are trying to do. Learning to articulate this knowledge greatly clarifies it in your own mind. In my experience THE MORE CLEARLY YOU THINK ABOUT A GIVEN skill, THE MORE DECISIVELY YOU will act WITH THAT SKILL. Often I make my students teach back the skills I taught them, or have them teach some new idea they are working on – the act of doing this always sharpens and enhances their understanding in ways that increase performance. The result is that all of my senior students without exception are truly excellent teachers as well as athletes. It has the additional long term benefit that they can make a good living from the sport as a teacher as well as an athlete. Next time you feel confusion about an area of the sport – do some research on it and try to teach what you've learned to a Jiu jitsu friend (or if you really want a challenge – to a non Jiu jitsu friend – then you will have to add explanations as to why this skill is important, since this may not be obvious to an outsider – make sure you make it shorter than my explanations or they may not be your friend anymore! ). I promise this will be more than just a fun experience – it will make you a better performer in that area of the game.
