I made the decision and informed my Jiu-Jitsu students at the beginning of May, that I will be at least temporarily discontinuing classes for the summer. Class size had dwindled to 6 students, and only two of those were even paying regularly. To be fair, one of the ones who was not paying is a black belt, and therefore does not have to pay any more.
Of the folks who were left, the jiu-jitsu class was clearly not a priority for any of them. This is not a criticism of my students, as life can happen to any of us. But the facts were very clear, of the 34 classes offered from January 1 through April 30, here are some statistics:
- 3 times did we have four or more students on the mats.
- 6 times did we have zero people show up.
- 23 out of the remaining 25 classes featured one or two students.
Sometimes in life, we need a nudge to show us the obvious. Yours, Truly, received three distinctive nudges.
1. About two weeks before the decision was made, I was rolling with an advanced student. As is often the case, I allowed him to put me in a compromising position - the mount. He attempted sode guruma jime - the sleeve choke. However, instead of using finesse to work the choke into place, and then applying pressure; he elected to use maximum strength in trying to put the choke in place. This resulted in him trying to apply the choke on my skull. The pressure specifically was on the side of my left eye socket. This is a student who has been coming for years, and knows darn well to not apply full-strength while rolling. Not only did I have to verbally remind him of something he very well knew, the pain from his stupidity stuck with me for several weeks thereafter.
2. The very class before I made the final decision, I had to switch from regular Thursday night, to Friday night class, as I could not make the Thursday night class in time. (Note - Several years back, I used to do Friday classes, and they started at 6:30 pm, instead of the regular 7 p.m. for Monday & Thursday classes.) I specifically texted the entire group, that class would start on Friday at 7 p.m. One student - who, when he actually shows up, shows up 15 minutes late like clockwork - showed up at 6:45 (15 minutes early). I asked him to what we owed the pleasure of him being on time. He replied in shock - he thought the class started at 6:30. Proof he had been coming late on purpose. When he actually shows up.
3. A week or two after the decision have been announced, I was demonstrating a technique with a black belt student. My longest tenured student of the current bunch. As I proceeded to demonstrate the technique, he locked down with full strength. This is a man who is much stronger than I, and everyone else in the dojo. This is also a man who knows darn well that any one singular technique can be defeated in isolation. He also knows darn well that we go easy on demonstrations so that students can see how to apply the technique. In fact, he has actually admonished other students of the exact same thing when he was demonstrating techniques.
I could nitpick behavior from each student, both above and not mentioned, but that would defeat the purpose. Some nitwit would read this, and feel like I was bitching about my students. That's not the case. However, it is very clear that would know students who look at this activity as a priority, there is no loss in temporarily closing the classes, until we can get fresh faces in the dojo.
All of the students of asked if we are going to resume later. I haven't ruled out the possibility of resuming later, but right now I am not thusly inclined. I might look into some alternate means of marketing, and start a karate class. Time will tell.
Of the folks who were left, the jiu-jitsu class was clearly not a priority for any of them. This is not a criticism of my students, as life can happen to any of us. But the facts were very clear, of the 34 classes offered from January 1 through April 30, here are some statistics:
- 3 times did we have four or more students on the mats.
- 6 times did we have zero people show up.
- 23 out of the remaining 25 classes featured one or two students.
Sometimes in life, we need a nudge to show us the obvious. Yours, Truly, received three distinctive nudges.
1. About two weeks before the decision was made, I was rolling with an advanced student. As is often the case, I allowed him to put me in a compromising position - the mount. He attempted sode guruma jime - the sleeve choke. However, instead of using finesse to work the choke into place, and then applying pressure; he elected to use maximum strength in trying to put the choke in place. This resulted in him trying to apply the choke on my skull. The pressure specifically was on the side of my left eye socket. This is a student who has been coming for years, and knows darn well to not apply full-strength while rolling. Not only did I have to verbally remind him of something he very well knew, the pain from his stupidity stuck with me for several weeks thereafter.
2. The very class before I made the final decision, I had to switch from regular Thursday night, to Friday night class, as I could not make the Thursday night class in time. (Note - Several years back, I used to do Friday classes, and they started at 6:30 pm, instead of the regular 7 p.m. for Monday & Thursday classes.) I specifically texted the entire group, that class would start on Friday at 7 p.m. One student - who, when he actually shows up, shows up 15 minutes late like clockwork - showed up at 6:45 (15 minutes early). I asked him to what we owed the pleasure of him being on time. He replied in shock - he thought the class started at 6:30. Proof he had been coming late on purpose. When he actually shows up.
3. A week or two after the decision have been announced, I was demonstrating a technique with a black belt student. My longest tenured student of the current bunch. As I proceeded to demonstrate the technique, he locked down with full strength. This is a man who is much stronger than I, and everyone else in the dojo. This is also a man who knows darn well that any one singular technique can be defeated in isolation. He also knows darn well that we go easy on demonstrations so that students can see how to apply the technique. In fact, he has actually admonished other students of the exact same thing when he was demonstrating techniques.
I could nitpick behavior from each student, both above and not mentioned, but that would defeat the purpose. Some nitwit would read this, and feel like I was bitching about my students. That's not the case. However, it is very clear that would know students who look at this activity as a priority, there is no loss in temporarily closing the classes, until we can get fresh faces in the dojo.
All of the students of asked if we are going to resume later. I haven't ruled out the possibility of resuming later, but right now I am not thusly inclined. I might look into some alternate means of marketing, and start a karate class. Time will tell.
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