For the majority of us, our BJJ school is where we spend a lot of our free time every week, and we love to be there. Our closest friends are there, and it is a positive environment for everyone. Many students share a strong relationship with their head instructor based on mutual respect and love of the art.
It is a rare situation, and an unfortunate one, where a BJJ student is told not to come back to a jiu-jitsu school.
Certainly non-payment of membership is cause of termination, but that isn’t what we are discussing here.
I have seen a few cases of students being told to get their kimono and hit the road over my time in jiu-jitsu, and it usually comes down to respect or more accurately a lack of it.
What do I mean by respect? I mean, respect for the rules and culture of the jiu-jitsu school, respect for training partners, displaying a cooperative attitude, protecting the safety of others, good sportsmanship, and respect for the instructor and club culture that he is trying to establish in the school.
When a student is unwilling or unable to adhere to the school rules and behave in a respectful manner, they need to leave lest they affect the enjoyment of the other students.
Recently, the legendary Marcelo Garcia expelled two high level competitors as a result of trash talking and not representing the example of behavior that Garcia values in his academy.
Two examples from my own experience of students being expelled also came down to lack of respect.
1) I once knew a purple belt who was one of those individuals whose jiu-jitsu could not back up what came out of his mouth. Outside of the academy he would trash every one of the senior students in the academy, despite being easily dominated by all of the guys he disparaged. When his trash talking surfaced, he was voted off the island.
2) A no-gi guy who joined a gi school didn’t seem to understand the idea of the tap. Having a low level of skill, he was frequently caught in submissions, refused to tap, and would scream “AAARRRGGHH!!” when his limb was finally extended. He would then react angrily, throw a mat tantrum, and accuse his training partner of “going too hard”.
After being thoroughly dominated by a training partner, he would then try to teach said partner some low percentage technique that he learned on YouTube. A generally lousy attitude lead to him being told to take his act elsewhere.
We simply need to show humility and respect to the school and fellow training partners, something that the vast majority of BJJ students understand, which makes the majority of BJJ schools welcoming environments.
Have you seen a student get kicked out of your academy?
