Confidence is like a pane of glass

Confidence is like a pane of glass

As a coach, I would describe myself as a "visual coach", what i mean by that is I like to explain things to students using pictures (of the mental kind, not paper and pen). I constantly make comparisons of arm positions to everyday items, my best yet, I think, being explaining the arm movement of a scooping throw technique to throwing a bucket of water along the floor (I'll try to put a picture up as unless you see it you'll think I'm talking broken biscuits).

As a coach, I find it easier to explain things this way, and most of the students at our club seem to "get it" when I explain things by relating them to other movements or shapes they know. I love analogies, like the postage stamp one in the first blog post, and this weekend something occurred to me which I wanted to share......using an analogy of course, that confidence is like a pane of glass.

We had a new student start at the club this week, really nice kid, quite quiet and maybe a little shy but a nice kid. I was talking to the mums before the lesson and our new starters mum made it quite clear that one of the big desires for her was to see her child grow in confidence, equally, one of our other students mums said she was really pleased that her son seems to have "come out of himself" since he's joined us, I was clearly made up with that!

The lesson went well, our new student clearly enjoyed it and hopefully we'll see them back next week, but the biggest thing for me was noticing the change in confidence from the start of the lesson to the end, it really struck me, and later on, I was thinking about confidence and the pane of glass analogy came to me.

Let me explain;

Glass comes in many forms, but it starts its life as thousands of tiny individual grains of natural sand, in a way, a students confidence is like this, there are lots of tiny individual things which the student will experience, lots of grains of confidence sand, which will eventually form the pane of glass - the students confidence.

As coaches, our job is to gather those gains, make sure they're the right ones, the right experiences, the right comments, the right critiques at the right times, so as to prevent a fault in the pane of glass, a false confidence.

As i said, today, glass comes in many different grades, strengths, treatments, colours etc - when you think about it confidence comes in many guises also. There are many elements to a persons confidence, just like there are many types of glass. Some examples I thought about;

Stained glass confidence - stained glass is very pretty, it looks great, but it's usually quite thin and can be brittle. Sometimes people develop a confidence like this, they appear outwardly confident, sometimes very confident but deep down, they're a little fragile.

As coaches, I think this type of confidence can develop when we're not honest with our students, when we give feedback that suggests its good, it's right, because we want students to feel good, even if they don't quite get it right....but at the same time we could potentially be putting that confidence glass under strain, for example, later on when the student realises, deep down, that the technique isn't right, that others are actually better. This is why I think it's important we are honest when we're coaching, honest and supportive working together to get it right. I believe our students confidence will grow and develop more if we, as coaches, help them to get it right, don't allow them to develop a false confidence. I also believe that by approaching coaching in this way, with honesty and support, students also benefit by developing tenacity and valuing effort to achieve goals.

Toughened Glass Confidence - Glass can be toughened, it's amazing that even a very thin sheet of glass can be engineered to be shatter proof and extremely strong, with special treatment it can withstand significant bangs and knocks. This is what we're aiming for, we want to develop our students ability and skill so they are able to withstand the odd knock to their confidence.

A word of caution here though, what we don't want, is unbreakable glass, this, I think, carries some danger. Confidence in your own ability is great, the ability to withstand a knock to your confidence and continue to perform is what I'm referring to when I refer to "toughened glass" think Johnny Wilkinson in the rugby World Cup final, he'd hit and missed a number of drop goals in the game, but it didn't affect his confidence, he still had the self confidence to hit THAT drop goal at THAT crucial moment on the stroke of full time and win the game and the rugby World Cup.

What we don't want, what we as coaches need to ensure doesn't develop is a self confidence which is false, which is built on a perceived ability, an ability which may not exist (think man after a few drinks who thinks he's a better fighter, better looking man etc), its a perceived self confidence, it's not real.

As coaches, specifically as martial arts instructors, we need to ensure our students do not develop a sense of confidence in their own ability which isn't accurate. The risks, well firstly safety, we can not allow students who believe their technical ability is greater than it actually is, to attempt techniques or training methods for which they are not yet ready.

Secondly, in the reality of a combat situation, we do not want our students to feel as though they have the ability to take on 3 people when they don't possess that capability. So how do we as coaches avoid this? It comes back to my earlier point about honesty. Be honest with the student, it doesn't need to be negative honesty, the key is to deliver the message positively I.e., "we're not quite there yet but let's work on x, y or z to get you there".

Hopefully, this is giving you some food for thought, in summary the key things;

Try using visual images and comparisons in your coaching
Be honest with your students, if they're not at the level they believe they are then you need  to give them the honest message in a constructive way to protect their confidence in future.

Finally, like all blog posts this is personal opinion, neither right or wrong just a view, I hope it provides some thought or content for further discussion.

A History of Ju-Jitsu Part 2

A HISTORY OF JU-JITSU CONTINUED

 

 

I hope you enjoyed the first part of this blog post, sorry it was a little long, but for those of you, who, like me, have practised Ju-Jitsu in the U.K., I think it's important to understand where the fascinating art we choose to spend our time studying comes from.

 

However, equally as important (in my opinion) is "how" it got here, specifically to the U.K. and even more specifically for my students and those from the World Ju-Jitsu Federation in the U.K, how it got to Liverpool.

 

Personally, I never even thought about this until I was around 18, I just enjoyed practising, I never wondered how the man who was responsible for the WJJF (Soke Robert Clark) knew what he knew, where did he learn?, who taught him? (at the time, all I knew was that it hurt when he hit you......a lot!!!!)

 

So one day, after a Tuesday morning training session, I asked him....and so began a conversation lasting around an hour which truly fascinated me and inspired me to read and research more, the results of this form part 2 of the blog post "A History of Ju-Jitsu", enjoy.

 

 

PART 2: JU-JITSU ARRIVES IN THE U.K.

 

 

Whilst fundamentally important to any students understanding, for me personally, the history of Ju-Jitsu in Britain holds more interest and relevance as it is this very history which I am now a part of.

 

Britain was one of the first western countries to receive Ju-Jitsu instructors. The first recorded demonstration took place in March 1892 at the inaugural meeting of the Japan Society, by a Mr. Shidachi. Mr. Shidachi, like many of the Japanese living in London at the time had trained in Ju-Jitsu in Japan and was no doubt an excellent and highly skilled practitioner, however it’s important to note that he was not a proclaimed Ju-Jitsu instructor, in fact he was a secretary at the London branch of the Bank of Japan.

 

Some 8 years later, Mr. Barton-Wright, who had lived and worked, like many Westerners as an engineer in the new “industrial” Japan and had trained in Ju-Jitsu in Tokyo, returned to Britain. He demonstrated his Ju-Jitsu capabilities (which he referred to as “Bartjutsu”) and also wrote to his Japanese instructors Master Yukio Tani and his brother, inviting them to Britain to form an academy of Ju-Jitsu.

 

Edward, William Barton-Wright

 

 

Early demonstrations by the Tani brothers and their associates who arrived with them we’re unfortunately badly managed and did not give the Japanese the opportunity to showcase the true value of the art against the more commonly seen wrestling, boxing and circus strongman. The disinterest lead to a number of instructors returning to Japan, with the exception of the Tani brothers, who did not give up.

 

To promote the art of Ju-Jitsu, Mr. Barton-Wright decided to tour the country showing the art of Ju-Jitsu and placed challenges to all comers to defeat the Japanese Tani brothers. Yukio Tani was at the time, only a young exponent of Ju-Jitsu and a natural showman. He led the two men into touring the Music Hall circuit across the UK. Yukio Tani would challenge anyone willing to test his skill against him and with the temptation of winning £1 for lasting each minute, or £5 for winning, there was never a shortage of challengers.

 

 

Yukio Tani & E.W. Barton Wright

 

 

Despite being only 5 feet 6 inches (1.67m) Tani allegedly lost only one music hall match and that was not to a British contestant but to a fellow Japanese national, Taro Miyake in 1905. In 1900 Yukio Tani’s brother returned to Japan and a new name appeared on the music hall circuit, Sadukazu Uyenishi, who used the stage name "Raku" but soon he moved into teaching self defence and physical education at the Army Gymnastic HQ in Aldershot after word of the skill of these men reached the military ranks.

 

 

Tani Brothers

 

 

Tani split from Barton-Wright in 1903 and in 1904 he opened the Japanese School of Ju-Jitsu at the Anglo-Japanese institute in London with Sadukazu Uyenishi. It was at this institute that a Mr Jack Britten, a London born boxer who earned money fighting in the boxing booths around the city came into contact with Ju-Jitsu under Yukio Tani, and Sadakazu Uyenishi, and other Japanese who stayed in London whilst in transit to other European capitals. Jack became a highly proficient student of Tani and Uyenishi but was eventually called up to fight in the First World War from 1914- 1918. With the end of the war in 1918 Jack eventually returned to London looking for work.

 

 

Jack Britten

 

 

Sometime in 1921 he came to Liverpool and opened a pet shop in Smithdown Place, above which he established a small Ju-Jitsu School. Later in the 1930s he moved to Shiell Road, Kensington, Liverpool, taking over a very large house that had 5 rooms, rooms he converted into matted dojos calling his school the Alpha School of Ju-Jitsu.

 

When I first heard of the Alpha School of Ju-Jitsu, it did not mean a great deal to me, that was until I became old enough and experienced enough to ask my instructor, Soke Robert Clark where “our” Ju-Jitsu came from. Soke Clark explained that The Alpha School of Ju-Jitsu was considered to be THE best martial arts school outside of London, this was due to the superiority of Tani and Uyenishi’s teachings, passed on to Jack Britten.

 

One of Jack Britten’s most famous students was who we now know as Soke Robert Clark who developed the first recognised syllabus of Ju-Jitsu outside of Japan and later joined forces with other Ju-Jitsu students Richard Morris and James Blundell to form the British Ju-Jitsu Association. James Blundell’s journey in Ju-Jitsu follows a similar pattern (all be it, there are less details available) in that he was taught by a man named Harry Hunter who studied in Japan whilst stationed there with the British Navy and opened his own school upon returning to the UK where his most senior student, named William Green in turn taught James Blundell.

 

 

Soke Robert Clark

 

 

Mr Clark, later sought to establish Ju-Jitsu across Europe with the help of Richard Morris and The World Ju-Jitsu Federation was born with The British Ju-Jitsu Association (BJJA) being its British Branch. With particular interest generated in Italy, Ju-Jitsu found a second home and one of Mr Clark’s students and a fellow martial artist Giacomo Bertoletti became the president of the WJJF.

 

 

G.S. Bertoletti & Soke Robert Clark

 

 

Eventually, the WJJF and BJJA split (the reasons for this are not documented and not for discussion here) and the WJJF under Mr Clark grew to an international organisation, with clubs existing now in over 72 countries and the famous blue jackets linking together thousands of black belts around the world, with the International Headquarters still based, as it has been since it's formation, in Barlows Lane, Fazakerley, Liverpool.
 

 

Members of the W.J.J.F

A History of Ju-Jitsu Part 1

A HISTORY OF JU-JITSU
 

I was going through a couple of papers at home and I discovered my old 3rd Dan Essay (yes Essay), for those of you wondering why an essay would form part of the Dan Grade, it's part of the WJJF system and is designed to test a students understading as well as promote reflection (why do we do what we do?, where did it come from? and....more importantly.....where are we taking it)

Many have a view on this part of the dan grade structure, my own personal view is that I never reflected on "me", as a student, a coach and a martial artist, until I had to sit down and write this essay so personally, I think it's important and right, you might disagree, fine, each to their own.

So I decided to put the first part of my essay on the blog to give those of you who read it an overview of the histrory of Ju-Jitsu. I'll put it up in two seperate posts, one for ease (it's not exactly short) but also because the essay is split between "ancient histroy" and "modern histroy".

I've read lots of essays about the history of Ju-Jitsu and it's roots in ancient Japan, so, whilst recognising this is important and therefore including it in my essay, the second part is the area I dedicated most of my effort and also where I had the sheer luck and priveledge to have known the late Sensei Robert Clark who first told me about how Ju-Jitsu came to the UK, how it ended up in Liverpool of all places, and ultimately the birth of the WJJF.

Before we go into the essay, one last point. I am not a historian, there are probably some innaccuracies (there are more than likely some spelling mistakes) and also a bit of personal opinion thrown in,so please take it for what it is and enjoy the read, part 1 below, part 2 to follow in the next post.

PART I - ANCIENT HISTORY

 

 

There are many wide and varied accounts of the history of Ju-Jitsu, many are un-reliable folk stories complete with a variety of myths and legends, and many accounts are contradictory. There are however, some common themes which provide a good indication into the origins of the art.

 

No matter what the exact source of the art is, it is important to understand:

 
1. The principles of the art
2. The history of the art
3. The environment in which the art developed (the history of Japan)

 

These three points will now be outlined further

 

 

The Principles of the Art

 

 

The word “Ju-Jitsu” is formed from two Japanese Kaji symbols. The first, "Ju" can be translated to mean "flexible, pliable, or yielding" note, the lack of a reference to attributes such as; power and strength, words often associated with the martial arts. Instead, the implication here is more aligned to manipulation and the use of force and balance.

 

The second symbol "Jitsu" can be translated as "art", technique, method, or school" which when proceeded with “Ju” character provides an insight into the very essence of Ju-Jitsu, the method of manipulation of an opponent’s force against them. The defender yields to an attackers force and redirects it for maximum advantage.

 

 

The History of the Art

 

 

The precise origins of Ju-Jitsu are difficult to pinpoint, with an acute lack of solid historical evidence. There are some accounts of a man named Chingempin, who left China after the fall of the Min dynasty, and settled in a Buddhist temple in Yedo, now better known as Tokyo. This particular story continues that within the same temple lived three master-less samurai, known as Ronin. (A samurai became master-less following the death of his master, or after the loss of his master's privilege or position within society).

 

One day Chingempin told them that in China there was an art of seizing a man, which he had seen himself, practiced but had not learned its principles. On hearing this, these three men made investigations and afterwards became very skillful.

 

In particular around 1671, one of these Ronin became so proficient that he repeatedly defeated opponents much stronger than himself. This is where the spread of Ju-Jitsu begins as two of his students became especially skilled, and foundered of separate schools, named Miura and Terada.

 

The origin of ju, which is equivalent to jujutsu, is traced to these three men, from whom it spread throughout the country. This is the most common account of the origin of the art, referenced in many sources but again, with little supporting evidence.

 

The Environment in Which Ju-Jitsu Developed

 

 

Perhaps it is more historically accurate to trace the origins of Ju-Jitsu by reviewing the environment in which it developed.

 

The earliest traces of civilization in Japan can be found in the Kofun burial mounds, some of which trace back to prehistoric times. Here, pottery “haniwa” Warriors and their horses can be found, some with details so great that they appear to be wearing armour and carrying swords and bows.

 

The “Kofun” mounds are where the early tribal leaders of Japan can be found. The most important tribal leader claimed to be a direct descendant of the sun goddess and as such established Japan’s first capital, Kyoto, with his family line becoming the first Japanese Imperial Family.

 

Japan, like most other early tribal civilizations was constantly in a state of unrest, tension and tribal war and by the 8th century decades of battlefield warfare lead to the emergence of skilled warriors who had chosen to lead a life of warfare and dedicate themselves to the perfection the required skills, they fought because fighting was part of their philosophy, their reason for living.

 

As most of the land in Japan is mountainous with only a relatively small amount being suitable for essential agriculture two problems became apparent; firstly, the terrain made it difficult for any centralized government to establish itself and civilized communities far from the capital, leading to communities establishing themselves and “self-governing”. This in turn leads to the second problem, power struggles and skirmishes between clans or tribes over fertile land and it is this situation which allowed the skilled fighters to not only develop and practice their “art” but also to have a purpose, the defense of their tribes land, or the capture of another’s.

 

In an effort to bring order to a warring set of tribes (which by 200 AD had grown to a size more akin to “states” or “cities”) the then Emperor Suijin granted a commission for a military commander in chief, known as the “Shogun”. The Shogun very quickly became the most powerful man in the country as, in the time of warfare, power drifted away from the Emperor to the various war lords, of which, the Shogun was the most prominent.

 

The earlier mentioned skilled warriors, now well versed and skilled in battle (and thus highly valued) lead to the development of so called “warrior families” who continued the fighting traditions by contesting neighboring warrior families for land, wealth or simply status and recognition of superiority.

 

The members of the warrior families served their master or the head of the family, usually the provincial lord or “daimyo” (they we’re not always direct relations and “adopted” members we’re common) and became known as the “bushi” or warriors, these “bushi” we’re further assisted by their students, known as “Samurai” which literally translates as “one who serves” and it is here where the term so synonymous with Ju-Jitsu occurs. By the 14th century, these “students” became regarded as warriors in their own right, warriors who served their master or lord and chose to pursue a life of warfare under a code known as “Bushido”, the Way of The Warrior”

 

Bushidō is word in common usage since the late 19th century, used to describe a uniquely Japanese code of conduct adhered to by the samurai, and loosely relating to the more familiar old English concept of Chivalry. This code is said to have emphasised virtues such as loyalty, honour, obedience, duty, filial piety (a love and respect for one's parents and ancestors), and self-sacrifice.

 

The actual term bushidō is surprisingly extremely rare in ancient texts. It does not even appear in famous texts supposedly describing this code, such as the Hagakure of Yamamoto Tsunetomo. We do know that at various points in Japanese history certain feudal lords devised prescriptive "House Codes" to guide the actions of their students (retainers), but finding evidence of a single, unified "samurai code" which all Japanese warriors adhered to is difficult.

 

As time past, Samurai combat changed, as did their armour and their weaponry. The old formalities of basic combat were left and armour grappling flourished, driven by need on the battlefield. Many martial arts schools adopted and improved grappling techniques to cater for this, many allowing the use of small knives to be utilised in close combat situations. The 15th and 16th centuries brought major changes to the Samurai and Japan's social system. At this point in time anyone could bear arms and climb the social ladder if they had the drive, talent or were ruthless enough.

 

Japan entered “the Age of the Country at War", a civil war that lasted around 150 years. This war returned the country to the early Samurai feudalism and by 1590, following many years of fighting the country was united under one ruler, Hideyoshi. Hideyoshi put into motion the rules of social reform that created a strict social structure that effected Japan until the 20th Century. 

 

Firstly Hideyoshi held a great sword hunt, all except samurai had to surrender their weapons, highlighting the social importance and status that the Samurai had now climbed to. He then classed people according to their profession, with Samurai being at the top of the ladder and peasants at the bottom. Movement between the classes was not possible, if you were born a farmer then you stayed a farmer until the end of your days no matter how much money you had .The Samurai were now distinctive separate class even though they only ever numbered around 8% of the total population.

 

Japan entered an age of peace with an established government and with peace the need for skilled, experienced battlefield warriors, the Samurai, declined dramatically. In 1650 a law had to be passed to stop Samurai dueling and feuding with each other (which occurred frequently simply because there was no war to fight, the samurai lived to fight and without a war, they fought each other) and in 1694 another law had to be passed to force Samurai to train in the martial arts, which began the movement away from the treasured sword.

 

At this time the hand to hand elements of the battlefield techniques flourished. The "Golden age" of Jiu Jitsu was the Tokugawa period when Japan was at peace. There were reportedly 725 distinctive styles being practiced at its peak.

The most important principle of these schools teaches was throwing, practiced to disturb the center of gravity of the opponent, and then manipulate the opponent so that they cannot stand (note again the reference to manipulation and skill, not brute force or strength) lose his balance and fall heavily to the ground, with some encouragement to ensure victory.

 

A series of techniques or methods of yielding or manipulation were taught in relation to the different motions of feet, legs, arms, hands, the thigh and back, in order to accomplish this objective. Choking via the hands, forearms, or by twisting the collar of the opponent's clothing around the throat, holding down and pushing, using any part of the body and twisting and bending using the arms, hands and fingers, and sometimes the legs.

 

Most students of these schools wanted a teaching license, as this, in the absence of war, became a way of earning a living. This system of operating was strengthened in 1717 when the police forced all schools and styles to be registered. The similarities between this and the club structure of martial arts schools today are obvious.

 

The final blow for the Samurai came in 1867 when a law was passed forbidding the wearing of swords, the very symbol of the Samurai. The Samurai warrior class had now become obsolete, redundant, no longer required in a time of peace.

 

The end of the Samurai class in 1867 very nearly meant the end of Ju Jitsu also. Many schools closed down due to lack of interest and Ju-Jtsu went into decline as it was considered to be an inappropriate image for the new Japan that the government wanted the rest of the world to see.

COMING IN PART 2 - JU-JITSU ARRIVES IN THE UK

  

Be like a postage stamp. Stick to one thing until you get there...

I came across a status on Facebook by an old colleague and friend who now runs his own Consultancy Firm working on developing people (take a minute to check it out, his website's pretty cool www.gingerguruconsultancy.com)

The status was "Be like a postage stamp. Stick to one thing until you get there..." I absolutely love this statement and it reminds me of when I first began working with the man who I always consider to be my main instructor, the late Sensei Fred Fitzgibbon.



Sensei Fred Fitzgibbon

Sensei Fred was one of the best instructors I have ever known and a person who I respected immensely. He took me under his wing at the age of 14-15 and spent more hours than I could even begin to count, teaching me in the small dojo, downstairs at the WJJF HQ.

His knowledge was fascinating but no where near as fascinating as the fact he was well over 70 and yet he would get off the floor when you'd thrown him and thump you for not throwing him hard enough, (he really was the hardest pensioner I have ever known) or as was usually the case with me....doing it right, with the latter he also drove me absolutely insane sometimes, because, like the quoted status says, he stuck with one thing until I got there (even if it took hours)!!!!

At the age of 14-15, my attention span was "limited" at best so I probably equally drove Sensei Fred mad yet not once did it show. I remember once time in particular when Sensei Fred decided (as he often did) to randomly pick a technique to go over, on this particular day it was the wonderful stomach throws.

Now before I go any further with this story just picture a 14-15 year old boy grabbing a pensioner by the lapels, sticking your foot in his stomach, throwing himself backwards and pushing said pensioner over his head and half way down the dojo........then picture said pensioner getting up, marching back up the said boy and saying, "your left foot was about an inch and a half off to the left, you need to pull it in". It almost sounds unreal, but that was Sensei Fred.

To help you picture this, take a look at the video I found on YouTube below (not exactly the way I'd do it, but it's just to give you an idea)




Anyway, back to the story....
Try as I might, I could never ever get this right, I thought it was right after all it generally ended wtih the person I was throwing being around 5-6 feet away from me (some of my friends Lee, Matty, Mikey, James would say that's not right, it should be 8-10 feet but at the time, we we're in the very small dojo (now a store room) it just never "felt" right.

On this particular day I must have done this throw, which is not the most comfortable of throws for your partner, at least 30 times and every time Sensei Fred would find something, something usually very very small, that was wrong with it, it drove me absolutely insane.

No matter how much I said, "can we work on something else", or "can we do something different" there was no chance, Sensei Fred was determined that I was going to get this right and simply asking me the question "what's the point in giving in?" stopped my moaning there and then.

He stuck with it, with one particular technique for around 2, 2.5 hours moving my left foot literally no more than a few centimeters either to the left or right each time and eventually I did it and it felt effortless, it felt "right" and Sensei Fred got up and simply said "got it" followed by (bear in mind we'd spent over 2 hours on this) "so what do you want to do now?".

Sensei Fred Fitzbiggon (left) with
Sensei Neville Kershaw

Personally, I think there are a few lessons in this story (I say personally because it's only my view);

Firstly, the postage stamp metaphor is great, but the message is as it says - "stick to one thing until you get there", if you don't get it right, keep going, keep trying, keep perfecting it until you do, don't give in, don't move onto something else, as Sensei Fred said to me "what's the point in giving in?"......I still say that to myself today when I need to.

Secondly, for instructors and students alike, it's usually the little things that make the most difference, a few centimetres in foot position really can make all of the difference, it's the little things that matter, don't settle for something "looking right" if there is something bugging you about it, something not quire right........keep at it, keep questioning it, keep adjusting it until you've got it. Trust me, the feeling you get (as either an instructor when the student get's it right or as the student who has persisted with something tirelessly) is fantastic.

Thirdly, trust your kinaesthetics

"Kinaesthetics is the study of body motion, and of the perception (both conscious and unconscious) of one's own body motions" - Wikipedia (For a more detailed explanation of what the big word means click HERE)

Learn to "feel" the technique, we often get so wrapped up in the "thinking" about a technique, planning each step in our mind before we do it, to remind ourselves of the correct way of doing it, that we don't learn to "feel" the technique. We don't learn to recognise the very fine movements, the way they feel, do they feel awkward, do they feel natural, does it feel comfortable, does it feel "right". Going step by step is fine when we first learn a technique, but we should pay attention to our body as we advance to a better technical level. Learn to understand the way it feels when we do it - and not just to the obvious feeling of getting it wrong (pain). Paying attention to this will help you to find those very subtle points I'm talking about in my second point above.

Lastly, to all of my students particularly the teenagers and adults, an apology. I'm sorry I know I drive you bonkers with my persistent picking and pointers, but if you read this article, I hope you will understand and appreciate the reason I teach you, the way I do. (I'm not sorry really, it's for your own benefit).

Hope you found this very long ramble useful
Paul

Hello, welcome to the CJJA blog!!

Hello,

For those of you who don't know, Crosby Ju-Jitsu Academy is a martial arts club, based (not surprisingly) in Crosby, Liverpool.

We've been going for 11 years now and we've grown from a small club, teaching Ju-Jitsu after school in a local school hall (where I was finishing my A-Levels at the time), to a bigger organisation with even bigger ambitions.

In September 2012, we became a Crosby Ju-Jitsu Academy Limited, a Company, registered in England and Wales, it's a big move but it puts us as an organisation in a fantastic position to kick off some of these ambitions plans I've had in my head, for a long time (years).

I decided to write a blog for 3 reasons;

1. Because it's a way of letting everyone know about us, what we're doing and how we're getting on (especially our students and their families who support us so much). We're going through a significant period of development and growth, it's exciting and I'd really like to share our progress.

2. Because I spend far too much time writing "formally" i.e. writing content for our website or notice board etc and not writing about how I feel about our club and some of the fantastic things that I think we as a group do - a personal view if you like. I get asked so many questions about all manner of topics and I often spend a long time discussing, debating and explaining things about the martial arts so I thought it'd be good to share those topics with others who may be interested.

3. (and most importantly) - I, like most people, watched the Olympic and Paralympic Games in London this year and one thing that I remember about the games the most, are some of the interviews the athletes gave where they singled out the start they we're given by the small, community sports clubs, often staffed by volunteers, mums and dads etc. Now, we're a martial art school/ club - we're not a sport and nor will we ever be (that's not to de-value sport in any way, but the martial arts, whilst sharing some of the attributes and benefits of competitive sport, are in many ways different and unique - another subject for another blog).

This last point got me thinking about some of our students from the past, many now grown adults and many still in touch. Some students and many of their parents have told me how their experience and time at The Academy really helped them grow and develop as a person. This is something I am hugely proud of and is something I know many other sports clubs around the country are equally proud of (when we take a step back to think about what we do).

However, (and the point of my blog today) running a club is NOT easy, far from it. I'll be the first to admit that on more than one occasion I have thought "why do I do this?".....closely followed by "do I want to carry on?". It's hard, it's a lot of work and there are a lot of do's, don'ts, legislation, qualifications, insurances etc etc, that's before we get onto the actual coaching - a whole world in itself. But it's also one of the most rewarding things you can ever do, the feeling you get when you take that proverbial step back and look at what you've built, look at the kid who has just done something they didn't think they we're able to do, the positive impact you have on people, it's an amazing feeling, one that makes you forget all those hoops you have to jump through to make this stuff happen.

So I intend to use this blog to do all 3 things I stated above, tell you about our Academy, the things that we do, try my best to explain some of those things that make the martial arts so special, share experiences, share my personal thoughts, answer questions (and pose some questions for reflection) and I hope share advice with other clubs, coaches or people thinking about getting involved. From setting up websites, creating databases, making marketing materials, forming companies, coaching children, catering for those with disabilities, risk assessments etc we've done or tried to do it all so I hope you enjoy the read.

Last thing to say is that this blog is a personal view, I'm not right, I'm not wrong - you may think so, that's your right and your opinion and I respect that, please extend me the same courtesy. Also, I've not got to grips with all of the blog settings as yet so I don't yet know how to moderate comments etc. I'd ask anyone who wants to leave a comment to be a) sensible - there are young people who may read what you write and b) respectful.

Cheers
Paul

Crosby Ju-Jitsu Academy
www.crosbyjujitsuacademy.co.uk