One of the most common questions I am asked when I travel and teach is this. . ."what do I need to work on?" As a coach you will need to get used to being asked this, it is part of the job.

The answer to this question will of course be individualized to a great degree. But over the last ten years of Coaching BJJ I have also become aware of certain patterns that most athletes will follow in one form or another. It's the journey all BJJ players undertake, and to explain my own personal vision of it as a Coach and teacher I often use a map analogy.

Imagine for a moment that the Art and science of BJJ is all diagramed out on a large map. Your job as a teacher and Coach is to help the student to first be able to read and navigate on the map, and then to begin to explore the map. As the individual becomes more adept at traveling the territory of the map, they begin to gain greater degrees of performance skill and understanding of the Art of BJJ...