Often new students have a hard time choosing where to train in the beginning. Everything is so new and they have no knowledge of what to look for in a Jiu-Jitsu Instructor. While everyone has different preferences in what makes a Jiu-Jitsu instructor good; we all do share a few common values. I want to let everyone know for this article I will not be considering tournament record or past student performance. In this article I am only considering internal qualities of the instructor to look for. This is because most white belts don’t join to compete. Most new students just want to learn, get in shape and know how to defend themselves.
The first quality obviously has to be how knowledgeable/legit the instructor is. If you google your instructor you should be able to see a clear path for his lineage with no murky territory. You should also be able to research how well respected he is via google and fb. After a few classes you should know if he is a knowledgeable instructor or not. In most cases any instructor holding a black belt fits this quality.
Next is how does their energy contribute to the class? Are they upbeat most days and motivating people to learn and be better? Are they always tired and upset? These qualities are important because they determine what we might be like in the future. You don’t want to train in a negative environment where these qualities may rub off on you.
Last is how do they teach? Do they help students individually with problems or just kind of let them figure things out for themselves? Basically this comes down to how much they seem to care about the students as a whole. Do they only support the upper belts or do they show attention to the white belts as well (answer should be yes). Another factor is their ability to explain things. Do they gloss over details which make it hard to learn? Do they explain things simply and effectively? These are all important questions to ask.
I hope this article makes it to a few confused white belts and helps them in their journey.
