I am not a fan of specialization in grappling. I think that the goal should always be to become as well rounded as possible in your discipline. There will always be things you are better at and things you gravitate towards, but you should be able to execute a broad spectrum of skills and demonstrate that you have that proficiency. It is difficult to practice areas of weakness when rolling begins neutral, so that it is better for either you or your coach to set parameters on most of your live training. It is also good to enter competitions and take classes that are adjacent to what you do. If you do BJJ then entering a judo or wrestling tournament or taking a class will benefit you even if you have no plans for great success in those arenas. Grow your skill set always and don't stay stuck in the same patterns.

To a certain extent, let the instructors do the instructing. However, also don't let your training partners do something that is obviously wrong. That's not being a good training partner. When you allow people to do things that are blatantly incorrect, it also effects your training, especially in a task-based games context. Take something like starting in an over under body lock, it is critical that you actually start in an over under body lock. Even if you get nothing else right, have enough common sense to begin in the demonstrated position. Help your training partners, help your coach, help yourself, take an active role in insuring you are getting good training and guiding everyone to be better.

The only thing you can control is you. That doesn't mean it's easy to not worry about what other people are doing or saying, but life is much easier when you're not in other people's business. The same can be said for grappling, you can only worry about you. It doesn't matter how long someone has been training, how big they are, what gear they have on, anything other than I lost because my jiu jitsu needs to be better is an excuse. That's harsh and I have been guilty of making those excuses, but from this stage forward the only reason I or any of my athletes lose is because we didn't grapple well enough. The only thing you can change is yourself, so only worry about what you can do better.

Those of us who do sport grappling sometimes get away from the origins of what we do. Every variation of grappling is a segment of combat practice. It is fun to go deep into sport BJJ and hit inversions or complicated leg locks, but to begin we should ask "Would what we are doing change if we were getting punched in the face?". I think that may be the basis of what constitutes a blue belt in my eyes. Do you grapple in a way that if strikes were introduced you would make intelligent choices and not get slaughtered? Process that thought the next time you roll. How bad would this be if I was getting hit?

There are many overarching principles in jiu jitsu. That's why your coach probably gives you the same advice in a multitude of situations. So first listen to your coach, most likely he's not just giving you instructions just to hear himself talk. Second, apply the principles. If you know you need to keep your arms in, keep your arms in. If you know they can't take your back if they can't see your back, don't let them see your back. Your coach can only do so much for you, it then becomes your job to execute.

Being uncomfortable is a great way to develop skill. That can mean many things, but the clearest example I have right now is my student competing this weekend. He has two concerns that get brought up when speaking about his progression. First, his endurance isn't always great and second, he isn't notorious for his finishing skills. Guess what he's doing this weekend? He is entering a submission only tournament. Not only does he need to have strong finishing skills, but he also needs to have excellent cardio if he cannot finish the matches. That is being uncomfortable, and it is essential for growth. For this reason, we play task-based games. It forces you to play from situations you would not usually find yourself in a roll beginning from a neutral position, it forces you to play outside of your normal game, it makes you develop auxiliary skills. It's why we do conditioning, because it enhances what you are doing in training and in life. What are you doing to grow your skills today? How is what you do today moving you closer to what you'd like to achieve? 

Developing your jiu jitsu has a lot to do with figuring out what you are naturally capable of and inclined to. For example, masters heavyweights play a game less heavy on inversions. Some moves just don't click with you for whatever reason. I have resigned that the Roleta sweep is probably never going to be my move. I also almost never hip bump sweep people. There are probably moves that you will see or learn that you will not use or will find ridiculous, but they still work for other people. Overall, it is okay to have moves that you shelf for later or that you just use very rarely. Play the game that you are drawn to and expand it naturally.  

I was in this conversation with Mr. Walnuts this morning about people in MMA belittling the effectiveness of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and downplaying its utility for sport fighting purposes. The truth is as a base style for MMA, I probably wouldn't pick jiu jitsu for the current structure of the game. Very few high level jiu jitsu athletes become high level MMA champions. They often also have a hyper focused skill set that doesn't relate to their new arena. Most of the elite grapplers that transition to mixed martial arts end up using that skill as a secondary or tertiary option. The reason Brazilian Jiu Jitsu became such a dominant skill set early on is two-fold 1. the lack of time limits or one very long round 2. very few people knew what was happening. The second issue won't change, people are fully aware of what submissions are in MMA and how to avoid them. The first issue probably won't change either, but I believe if someone did make single round long format fights submission grappling would regain some of its luster.

Whether you get injured in Jiu Jitsu is largely up to you. Very rarely will someone intentionally injure another person. More often than not, injuries come when people try to avoid something and make the situation worse. Which is why you have to be in control of yourself during rolls. If you're injured and decide to go wild after somebody, you can't get mad when your injury worsens. The same can said for trying to roll like you're 22 when you're 45, the wheels will fall off. Most of the time when someone is better than you at jiu jitsu they will match your pace, so if you go out and try to kill them, they will give no quarter. If someone is training wild you don't have to train with them, but also make sure you aren't the wild one.

There is something to be said for novelty as it relates to performance. If you introduce a new related skill, a different skill, or make something more difficult it can lead to better outcomes. Outside of grappling an example would be weighted bats in baseball, or sumo training in football. So maybe as a community we should do a better job of embracing the diversification and novelty afforded to us by the broad range of our activity. If competition is your focus in grappling, it would behoove you find as many grappling related competitions as you can. Not just jiu jitsu, but go to wrestling, judo, and sambo tournaments as well. Train no gi and in the gi. Especially as a child, the more exposure you have to competition the easier it will be, and in reality, your record only matters at black belt adult, so go forth and learn.