When you become addicted to BJJ, you tend to throw yourself with great enthusiasm into the BJJ world. You eat, think, and sleep all things related to BJJ.
Along with your passion for BJJ, it is easy to get distracted by superfluous things that really don’t matter.
Here are four of them:
1) Kimonos
The newest limited edition designer kimono with samurai graphic innner lining may make you feel like the next Leandro Lo, but it doesn’t do a heck of a lot to make you roll like him.
There is nothing wrong with buying a quality gi or rash guard if you are training a lot and you have the budget, but I’ve seen some guys who put more emphasis on who has what kimono brand than on training.
2) Who tapped who?
I remember one blue belt who was like the gossipy girl in high school. However, instead of talking about who was dating whom, this guy was assiduously compiling the training record of everyone in the school.
You could see his eyes widen when anyone mentioned two guys had rolled. “Did he tap him?!?” he couldn’t wait to blurt out. If it was confirmed that yes, indeed, a lowly white belt had tapped a higher ranked classmate, he would clap his hands in unrestrained glee.
Training is just training. He should have been more focused on his own training than playing mat gossip.
3) Which competitor switched teams.
Some guys seem to be fascinated by wanting to know why one high level competitor moved from one team to another. Perhaps they hope for a TMZ worthy scandal? There are numerous reasons why guys move from one city to another or move teams. Change is part of BJJ and life.
I have BJJ guys who ask me why this guy switched from Team A to Team B. What does it really matter? Does the back story have anything to do with how his next tournament match will go? I guess some people are just really interested in BJJ politics.
4) Belt lineage
To guys absorbed in the world of competition jiu-jitsu, some people spend far too much time being suspicious of another guy’s lineage.
True, some BJJ addicts do a community service by outing fake black belts, but I’ve heard far too much needless questioning about how fast that guy got his blue belt or what championships so-and-so won. Ultimately, the guy wearing the belt has to defend it and the true skill becomes evident.
BJJ it is very difficult to conceal your skills or lack thereof for long. That mats don’t lie.
Is there anything in the BJJ world that you feel receives far too much importance?
I wish all of that didn’t matter.
1) I’m pretty cheap and content to use my old tattered gi. I moved a few states away and started training with a Gracie. I wasn’t forced to buy a new gi but it was made clear I needed to buy the one he was selling with his name on it or I wouldn’t hear the end of it.
2)Whenever the subject I just say “I don’t know man, I’ve had way to many concussions. My memory is shot.”
3) Never comes up for me
4) I hear rumblings but for me it boils down to what can you do. I know a Brazilian dude that is legit tough but for some reason he feels the need to lie about where he got his belt from. I know this because at one school he taught at he claimed one lineage then he moved to open another school and claimed a different lineage.