Awhile ago I wrote a post wondering if I should ask one of my fellow Jiu-Jitsu students to be my mentor (so I wouldn't have to just bug Conan all the time), but I didn't know if that was the right thing to do, because I thought those kind of relationships should develop naturally. I never did ask anyone, but the other day when I was in class at LBJJ, I realized that there is someone I train with who has filled that role. In a way it's kind of weird to call him my "mentor", because I am old enough to be his mother (and he's been training Jiu-Jitsu about a year less than I have), but Mike has definitely become someone I look up to, and he helps me a lot.
Since we are similar in size, we often end up working together, and he's really good at helping me figure out the whats, wheres, and whys. He understands what it's like for me as a smaller person, and he knows what will and will not work for us. His technical knowledge of Jiu-Jitsu far exceeds mine, and he is able to correct my mistakes, which most of the time I don't even realize I'm making.
Given a choice, I would choose Mike to be my partner every time, and the nice thing about it is that he doesn't seem to mind working with me, either. If you've ever rolled with him, or even watched him roll, then you understand why I look up to my little brother!