March 4, 2019

By Aaron Martinez

How to coach a Black Belt

I wanted to give my thoughts on what is the best way to coach a Black Belt during competition, or an athlete that is higher ranked, or is more skilled than yourself. I remember thinking, “Should I even be saying anything at all?” I asked a former Black Belt instructor of mine after one of his matches, when we traveled together to compete and I was the only one there to coach him. I was a purple belt, but he said, “Absolutely.” I did my best, but certainly could have coached him better if I knew what I know now.

As a black belt now, I really want my coaching kept simple. I’ve worked my game plan and drilled it a thousand times. I don’t need someone trying to coach every single element of the match. I want to know:

1. The time left in the match

2. Situational- I’m up or down by points and advantages

3. Be calm and breathe when I’m getting too excited 

4. Motivation when I’m down and losing hope.

It’s the complete opposite of coaching a white belt, or someone new to competition. In those situations you have to do a lot of hand holding and walk them through situations when you can. A black belt knows how they want to defend a choke from the back. Screaming directions on how to defend the neck and escape the hooks is silly unless you see something you 100% know they can’t identify on their own because of their position.

There are many different kinds of relationships between coaches and athletes and many different scenarios that will dictate the dynamics of coaching. But if you walk into a tournament and see your black belt instructor competing and no one is there to coach them, you can at least be helpful and give them information they can use to help them win.