They Just Keep Getting Bigger

There were over 20 people in my Fundamentals class this morning. Over TWENTY. I still can't believe that I'm in a place where I'm no shit teaching jiu jitsu...and they keep coming back. It blows my mind, mainly b/c the first two schools I started at never had 20 people in ANY class that I could remember. Even my current school didn't start hitting 20 in classes until about a year ago. To not only see the growth but to be a small part of it is very, very gratifying. 

I had planned on covering the holy trinity of closed guard submissions (arm-bar, omoplata and triangle), but only got through the first two. I wanted to try out a slightly different process for drilling, wherein I show a technique, we drill it, then I clean up the details that people have missed and we drill again. The longer drill time was also due to me trying to get around to as many people as possible. I think I may be spending too much time with the drilling, but I have a difficult time not getting around to as many people as I can. If it continues to be a thing, I may pull Rachael from drilling and have her walk around as well if she's willing.

I was happy with how class went. Rachael reminded me that it would be a good idea to go over gym rules/etiquette after class so we did that for a bit. I was really, really happy with how calm and confident I was during instruction, and I felt like my technique demonstrations and explanations were correct and helpful.

I got a couple of rolls in the open mat afterwards, mainly consisting of Sol isolating my arms from my body and submitting me from pretty much everywhere. The rest of the time I was talking with people who had just started (there were at least three people who were brand new) or helping people prep their game-plan for tomorrow's tournament.

It's been a gradual evolution to being one of the leaders at the gym. I feel a sense of responsibility to represent the school and James well in all aspects. Talking to people who walk in the door about the gym comes oddly naturally to me. A large part of it is b/c I'm passionate about the subject and I believe in the school and its ethos. For someone who isn't very social, it's an interesting thing to observe and note.

Speaking of the tournament, I'm reffing tomorrow. Not looking forward to that. Really looking forward to having it be done.