We receive requests for certain polls from the Mighty 600,000 pretty regularly, and this is one that we’ve had in the hopper for a while but just now bubbled to the top. This came earlier this summer:
Hey Caleb,
I listen to your show out here in Hawaii. After listening to your coverage of the Mundials, I was curious to know from the “mighty 600,000″ how many of their instructors actively seek out ways to continue developing their skills. Do they attend seminars or camps? Do they travel to certain parts of the U.S. or to Brazil? It would interesting to know if the blackbelt instructors are still interested in developing their skills or just interested in maintaining their current skills. Of course, not every school has a blackbelt instructor, which may influence the results.
Thanks for your continued dedication to producing quality shows.
- D
So I was trying to put together a poll based literally from D’s idea by listing all the ways one’s instructor might improve at Brazilian jiu-jitsu. But there were just too many options and I think it’d be a little messy for a poll. So hopefully the poll that appears above captures the idea that D was hoping to learn about.
As with every one of our BJJ Polls family, make sure you vote and then leave a comment below!
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
My vote is an absolute YES.. I am privileged and blessed to have Marcelo Garcia as my Head Instructor.
I train under Zak Maxwell and Brian Rago at Gracie Philadelphia. Zak is a regular competitor at IBJJF and other large tournaments, and as such is always training hard and improving. Brian does not compete as much, but also regularly travels to San Diego and Brazil to train.
I can’t imagine training under an instructor that didn’t try to develop his or her skills. That doesn’t mean they need to travel regularly to train with high level black belts. I think you can make progress just by teaching and training with your students and keeping an open mind.