At this point in the program I’m starting to see solid Jiu jitsu from my students. Some of whom are only 8 weeks into training. I think a fundamentals program is essential to a successful gym, but the gym also needs and introduction course. One that recycles the same information on a 4 week program and brand new students are enrolled in this program before joining the regular classes. We currently don’t offer that, so I often see absolute beginners entering my class. This adds to the already diverse crowd. We often see 30 to 40 students in my class with a range from white belts to black belts. I typically ask them to group themselves into pods of four that best suit their size, skill level, and intensity. This allows for our color belts to get a lot from the class with competitive reps. I need to format my games so that someone with absolutely no experience can join a class and have a good time. They can play the games without being drowned by details and they can leave feeling like they were able to be competitive and get a good workout in. I think I’ve been relatively successful in this, however I still find myself over explaining things at times. It’s difficult to stay away from the older style of lecture lessons. Reminding myself that its not a lecture but a practice. I can teach them things, I can point out errors and offer corrections, but ultimately it needs to be ran as a practice. Give them a task and let them play. My job as a coach is to format these games in a way that funnels my students into pathways that I can expand upon. I have to be watching the pods and making adjustments all the time. I have to understand that going into a practice, its not for me, its for them. This is such a different way of running things. I don’t know if its better, a lot of amazing grapplers have come from a very traditional way of teaching or learning. For now I’m just focused on trying to improve my students, and this seems to be working. I’ll keep adjusting and dialing in the program. My hope is that year over year it keeps improving. I hope this account of my program acts as a way of documenting the happenings of each class and that you, the reader can take something away from it to better your training or coaching.