EDH Jiu Jitsu and Self Defense is a martial arts school established in 2009. When we first started, we had once class a night with only adults. Fast forward to 2022 we have morning, noon and evening classes. In the evening we have 4 different age groups; peewee (age 4-6) kids (age 7-9) juniors (age 10-15) and adults (age 15+). Dividing the classes into different age groups allows us to create an age appropriate learning situation and the older more experienced students a chance to mentor the younger less experienced students.

While there is a technical focus on learning and developing skills in the art of Brazilian jiu jitsu, we are very conscious about emphasizing more than just technical skills in all of our classes. Three skills outside the development of jiujitsu we emphasize are: communication, team work, and growth mindset. We strongly believe (and know through evidence based sports psychology research) sports teams or martial arts schools that emphasize the development of skills related to life, lead to better performers in their sport. We make an emphasis to emphasize and teach these skills in our lessons.

The first skill we emphasize as students join our program is communication. Communication isn’t easy. People communicate differently and are receptive to different styles of communication. There is athlete to athlete communication, coach to athlete communication, coach to coach communication… There is also the often over looked, coach to family communication, family to athlete communication as well. Communication is often a continuous process. This requires people checking in, clarification, repetition and reminders, forgetting and confirming. The most important is probably making sure people know they can and should speak up while keeping the line of communication open. The famous martial artist, Yuki Nakai, famously coined his jiu jitsu teams motto, “martial arts communication.”

As students develop skills in communication, team work becomes more possible. While jiujitus is an individual practice, it requires the team to collaborate and build off one another. Team work requires leadership and ability to follow leaders, problem solving skills, communication, an understanding of expectations, and more. We develop these skills in our athletes by creating practice scenarios that require them to use and practice these ideas through the duration of practice. The better they are as a team the better they are as individuals.

The ability to communicate and work as a team are a direct contribution to the practice of a growth mindset. In a growth mindset, talents, abilities, and intelligence are viewed as learnable and capable of being improved through effort. As athletes see and experience their development in jiujitsu, communication, and team work, we look to help them recognize the importance of maintaining a growth mindset.

As we train our skills on the mat in jiujitsu at our academy, EDH BJJ, we look to also train our skills off the mat. Communication, teamwork, and growth mindset are such skills we encourage and emphasize in our lessons. Doing this not only helps athletes be better people off the mat but also helps the athletes be better performers in jiujitsu.

Eliot

This weekend was the JJWL Stockton tournament. The American Jiu Jitsu Syndicate team finished with a few team trophies. In the youth gi division the team finished in 2nd place, a few points shy of 1st. In the adult and masters gi division the team finished in 1st place by a margin over 150 points. Congratulations!

From EDH BJJ there were 11 youth competitors, Ryder, Dailan, George, Drake, Marco, Jack F, Jack J, Colin, Hunter, Ella, and Emma. There were also 3 adult and master competitors, Danny, Joe, and Johnathan. Each competitor made improvements from match to match, showing a great display of ability to learn and improve their instincts. It’s very exciting to see competitors get out there and compete. The lessons learned in the short minutes of competition are incredibly valuable.

As the opportunity to compete grows it’s important to keep a few things in mind. Tournament experiences are a multi part process of training and preparation, the tournament performance, and the post tournament review and reflection. We can’t stress enough the importance of coaches and competitors connecting the dots and making the most of their competition experience through reflection.

EDH Jiu-Jitsu

Grey/White Belt Promotion

John Paul is a very kind teammate and a relentless competitor when it is game time! Congratulations on working hard and earning your promotion John Paul.

Gray-White Promotion:

Congratulations to James for earning his Gray-Belt. James is a quiet leader who is an excellent role model to his peers. He is respectful, well mannered, and gracious. After months of hard work and consistent dedication he has become a good, well rounded practitioner. Good job, James!

“Make progress not excuses”

Our jiujitsu program at edh bjj has a few components of training at is off the mat. One component involves building an elite mindset through discussion and reflection. Here is a response from a student named Shayne.

I believe that this quote is straightforward in its primary message but it also has different messages that many people will take different understandings from. For one, there is the obvious of, you cannot progress if you continue to fall back on your weaknesses and attribute your failure as part of who you are. Anyone can be good at anything, so long as they try hard enough is really what this quote is going for, but I also believe that this quote means that you have to combat the moral dilemma that everyone has inside of themselves. Everyone doubts themselves, everyone feels like giving up sometimes, but the only way to grow not just in jiu Jitsu, but in every aspect of life is to force yourself to do what’s hard, and to pursue your dreams and goals relentlessly.

Thank you Shayne for sharing your thoughts with us!

 The Thanksgiving Jiu Jitsu camp was a lot of fun. The kids who came all had a great time hanging out with their teammates, playing games and of course doing jiu jitsu. Both days of camp had the same schedule. Jiu Jitsu class first, mat games, break and snack, then board games and making gratitude lists.   

For the class we worked on a lot of stand up skills and basics on the ground such as single legs, sprawls, escaping side control and transitioning to mount. When class ended I made 4 teams, after each team picked their team names the games began. It was really fun to watch the teams work together as things got competitive. We competed in relay races, sumo matches, tug a war and then combined teams so that there were only two teams. Once there were only two games we finished off the mat games with snowball/dodgeball and log races. After the mat games we went outside to eat some snacks and take a break. When the kids came back inside I set up some board games and let them pick which games they wanted to play. While they were playing I talked to the kids about thanksgiving being a really good time to think about all of the things we have to be grateful for and told them to think of three things they were grateful for. When they were ready and had three things to write down they put their list on a sticky note and put it on the whiteboard.

Overall I really enjoyed doing the camp and look forward to the next one. If I was going to change one thing I would add more games for the 4 team tournament format. That seemed like it was the most fun part of camp. I also really liked the gratitude activity and will definitely have similar themes for future camps. 

Coach Danny