Jiu Jitsu Times Vs. The BJJ Hour: Verbal Grappling Episode 2

October 2, 2015

CORRECTION this will take place at 10PM

On Sunday 10/4, the Verbal Grappling Podcast put on in conjunction between Jiu Jitsu Times and The BJJ Hour will be airing episode 2. For those who don’t know, the Verbal Grappling podcast takes topics that are controversial and makes an effort at fully analyzing and, when appropriate, debating them.

Last time, the discussion was focused around the merits of having kids compete. A summary of and link to the last episode can be found here: Verbal Grappling Episode 1: RECAP

On October 4^th the discussion will head in a direction alluded to in episode 1: the case of Houston Cottrell (about whom Jiu Jitsu Times posted an article a while back: Meet Houston Cottrell: The Teenage Gym Owner) this is a contentious topic for a few reasons:

Houston is very young to be a school owner (17)
Houston is a blue belt
Houston has received his authorization to teach from Gracie Academy/Gracie University, which has recently come under fire for awarding blue belts via the mail.

On the other side of the debate:

Houston is very mature and makes a point of having adults present in his academy
Houston doesn’t claim to be anything he’s not, and teaches only a curriculum which he is qualified to teach, if someone wants to go beyond that there are other places available for them
Houston’s program has a very specific purpose and that is to teach the version of BJJ that Rener and Ryron Gracie promote, for better or worse. Anything outside of that, again, has other establishments nearby as an option.

We will feature Houston on this episode and discuss with him the merits of his position. 2 of the podcasters will be on the side of the debate that Houston should NOT be in charge of a school. Houston and I will be on the other side of that debate. Things will get very interesting.

The intention of this episode isn’t to railroad a kid with high aspirations, but rather to analyze the merits of his position, and possible lack thereof.

Because of the potential for “ganging up” or grand standing, we plan on using a timer, and limiting people’s time to speak to allow each member of the podcast team and Houston fair and equal air time.

This, like other episodes will be open to public participation, and will be aired live. However, if you miss it you can always catch it after the fact.

Here is the link!