Hey there, fellow BJJ white belts! How are you all doing? Getting tapped much? I know, I know… I am in the same boat as you are.
I can even bloody guarantee you how I will be submitted the next time I spar; it will be via the triangle choke.
How do I know?
Simple – I ALWAYS get myself into it.
How many forsaken repetitions will it take me to remember that it is either both arms out or both arms in? How many, damn it?! Remember, Feđa, remember: both out or both in, both out or both in, both out or both in, wait, no right arm, where are you going, NO NO NO. Shucks. It’s not torn, I am allergic to pollen, I swear…
Anyway, let me introduce myself.
My name is Feđa and I have been training Brazilian jiujitsu for around 10 months right now in the „ŽiuŽicu Team Sarajevo“, based in Sarajevo, Bosnia, and Herzegovina. As you might have guessed from my rant beforehand, I am quite an average white belt, to say the least. I struggle, predominantly, with being stuck in someone’s guard, with not being able to finish something that seemed like such a tight choke, with being in someone’s mount, with guys that are 60 pounds lighter than me and escaping my side mount and spinning me around in circles while I struggle to catch up with their movements… Pretty much, I struggle with everything.
However, every now and then, I get some of the stuff right. I get the hooks in properly, I escape the almost certain armbar, hell – yesterday I even did my first Gogoplata!
And right after that, I got submitted 7 times in one round. Yeah, that’s me, struggling to explain to my coach how I managed to get tapped seven times in one round.
So, now you might wonder: why is this woe-is-me-guy writing and what is he writing about?
Let me answer the second part of the question first.
I will be writing weekly articles about my experiences as a current white and future blue, purple, brown and, hopefully, black belt. However, my intention is not to bore you to death by writing about details in regards to how the techniques are executed; I believe that this is something that should be reserved for the classes and for my totally manly BJJ diary. On the contrary, I shall write about the totality of my – and my fellow teammates’ jiujitsu experiences: the successes and failures, the funny stuff, the sad stuff, the awesome moment stuff, the frustrating stuff, stuff, stuff! It’s jiujitsu stuff! Yaaaaay!
As far as the first part of the question is regarded, the answer is more straightforward.
For the most part, I am writing this in order to show everybody that have embarked on their jiujitsu journeys that they’re not alone in their low days, and that constant progress and having fun are the only two constants we should keep our eyes on.
I also intend to make these upcoming articles into a form of my legacy and contribution to the BJJ world itself. Outside the focus on merely improving myself, I want to bring about jiujitsu value, perspective and a couple of laughs to you, the reader.
All those things regarded, I now finish this introduction and say to you: cheers, my new fellow reader! Thank you for indulging in this journey with me, and I hope that you will enjoy all of the upcoming articles.
Until next week, oss! And if there’s one thing you learned from this introductory article, for the love of God – it’s both arms in or both arms out.
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