🏆 This past weekend one of our Purple belts won the IBJJF Masters world tournament for a 3rd time (2 at Blue, 1 at purple).

I’ve been training Jiu-Jitsu since 2009.

Competing equally as long.

The M.O. for a lot of gyms is to post pictures of their champion and use it as social proof to either bolster how great their gym is…..or how great of a coach they are.

“Train with the best.”

“Train with Champions.”

Yada Yada

I’ve known Terri Willman for years. She and her family were one of our first members.

Her ambition, work ethic, and emotional IQ continue to impress me.

And the reality is…..Terri would thrive wherever she is planted. 🌱

✅ She created her own gameplan. 🖊️

✅ She spoke directly to her coaches about what she wanted/needed.

✅ She did extra weight training on her own 🏋🏻‍♀️

For whatever reason she chose to train at Metro Jiu-Jitsu.

Are we proud to have her?

Of course. ☑️

Do we have great coaches and teammates who have competed and can help her prepare?

Yes ☑️

Are we solely responsible for her success?

Absolutely not. ❌

To claim as such would be incredibly arrogant.

The irony is not lost on me that our word of the month is “Ambition”.

“an ardent desire for rank, fame, or power” is how Webster defined it.

That falls flat to me. 🫤

Because ambition without action is empty. 🗑️

Ambition without planning is nothing. 0️⃣

Terri did the work. 👊

The work just happened to take place in our gym.

I often laughed coming up through the ranks…. 😂

I would see these absolute STUDS (now household names in the Jiu-Jitsu scene), that would be lauded and praised for their competition record 🥇 …..followed by

“Train with the best.” 🦍

Then the “stud” left to train elsewhere. 😳

The next gym would then prostitute that individual’s success for their own.

And of course….followed by #trainwiththebest. 🤣

I’m guilty of this in the past.

It’s a trend I simply refuse to take part in anymore.

For several reasons:

1️⃣ It wreaks of selfishness by the school owner to me. (Though I don’t know their motives)

2️⃣ It negates the individual’s own effort and actually takes away from their accomplishment.

3️⃣ In my personal opinion it over prioritizes the “result” of competition (which is out of their control).

Rather than the preparation and planning (which is in their control).

This out of balance priority can severely “Mind-eff” the athlete. Especially as their body ages and injuries accumulate.

4️⃣ It over prioritizes Jiu-Jitsu competition

I’m highly competitive. Ask anyone.

But only with shit that matters.

I want to be an ELITE husband.

An ELITE father

An ELITE sibling

An ELITE business owner.

An ELITE friend.

And a righteous God fearing man. (ELITE Christian would’ve been an oxymoron 😏)

When I’ve breath my last breath…..those categories will have made an impact.

Those categories are what people will be discussing.

Congrats to Terri for her outcome. 👏

Thank you to our coaches and team for helping her prepare. 🙏🏻

As always I’ll be…..

Rooting for you,

See you on the mats,

Written by Coach David🦊