Not Athletes

​I think there’s this kind of weird situation right now where the branding and the actuality of Jiu Jitsu are not aligned. There’s the combatives/ self-defense side and the competition side, and they both have the same issue. It takes an immense skill gap to overcome elite athleticism. If you don’t know what I’m doing, it’s much easier for me. However, if you are not athletic and you encounter someone who is but is unskilled, it may not be until nearly purple belt that you feel unbothered by their skillset. This is especially true in no gi. I’m confident that you could take a division 1 athlete from any sport, train them for a year and win a blue belt no gi world championship. It’s not that difficult in reality. If you’re hyper competitive, strategic, and dedicated you can probably make it until brown belt before you’d really struggle. Even at an elite level there are very few superior athletes. The upper echelon of submission grappling right now is comprised of superior strategists and mediocre athletes at best. I believe that this past no gi worlds demonstrated that being a true athlete with some knowledge is a much easier route than being knowledgeable with minimal athleticism. Grappling is a fantastic hobby, but effective application will always require work.