I think that our Jiu-Jitsu program is pretty small compared to some others, I estimate that our class has about 20-25 regular students, with about 10-15 of them showing up on any given day. In some ways this is good, you can get a lot of personalized attention, and there's plenty of room to roll. On the other hand, you're always grappling with the same people (or the ever-changing white belts). Luckily, we also have students from other schools who regularly visit us, and it's a great chance to roll with people from different styles. You can really learn a lot from grappling with people outside of your school, and it's nice that we have an opportunity to do so, other than in competition.
There is a
UNL wrestler, I call him Bubblegum James (because the first thing I ever said to him was "Get rid of your gum, it's not allowed on the mat") who visits our Jiu-Jitsu class every once in awhile, and whenever I'm there, he always asks me to roll. I have grappled with him more than with some of my fellow Jiu-Jitsu students! I enjoy rolling with him, it's always a fun fight. He does use strength on me (he
is a wrestler after all ;) and he always submits me, but he doesn't just dominate me. He's good at giving me enough resistance so that it's a real challenge, but not so much that I can't do anything at all. I don't think he wrestles with many people who have a guard game, so I can usually keep him at bay for awhile with that.
He's the only person I've ever grappled with who was wearing a singlet (and the only one I ever will! jk!). One time he had a t-shirt on over it, but that just kind of made it look like he didn't have any pants on, which was almost worse. Seriously, I understand the reason for the singlets, I'm just really, really, super glad I don't have to wear one!
Many people come to Jiu-Jitsu from wrestling backgrounds, and our school has a good number of them, so we get to steal all of their secrets! I especially like the takedowns, and even though I have trained more Judo than wrestling, I am now more likely to go after a wrestling takedown than a throw. Our school might be small, but I think I'm really lucky to have the personalized attention, and yet still have the opportunity to train with people from BJJ, MMA, Judo, and wrestling. It's the best of all worlds rolled into one!
James might only be asking me to roll so he can punish me for not even saying "please" when I ordered him to get rid of his gum on the day we met, but whatever the reason, I really appreciate his involvement in my training. Now if I could just get him to wear a gi when we grapple!
"I have come here to chew bubblegum and kick ass, and I'm all out of bubblegum."
