What makes a great instructor?

Im just curious to hear your opinions on the subject. There's obviously a big gap between being a great practitioner, and being a great instructor. Off the top of my head I can think of a few great jiujitsu artists who seem to lack many of the key elements I would consider dire to being a good teacher. So I was wondering, when you are looking for someone you want to train under, what elements do you look for? Obviously theres going to be different ideas/opinions on the subject. Some people prefer a person who drills reps over and over for a month before moving on, Some people look more to the personality. Ex: Someone who will not only give you great jiujitsu advice, but is willing to be there for you off the mats as well. So what do you say? What things are most important to you when looking for a "great" instructor?

Having a sick beard. Just saying

I would say Passion, patience, dedication to the development of the students, open mind and willing ness to try new things, someone who creates a fun atmosphere for the students, depth of technical knowledge an the ability to pass that on and full arm tattoo sleeves

It can be hard starting out with a bunch of new random guys an having them crush you from mount and side, most people wont like it. But if there is a team mentality then you wont mind it because its your friends crushing you.

...Derek Stewart... that is all

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you never know how good your instructor is until you train somewhere else, I had a 50 plus year old life long martial artist tell me i'm one of the best instructors he ever had & that was super humbling especially considering that he was doing martial arts since before my dad shot me out his balls. & my students tell me i'm a good instructor, but i always tell them thanks but wait until you train somewhere else & see whats out there then compare. I sent one of my students to Lavato's school because he was transferring universities & theres no way i'm even in the same universe as him. & i told him to come back & show me some shit

it depends what you're looking for and what type of student you are. Some people are competitive, and need someone who's as intense to nurture them. Some people need more patience and compassion torwards the process, and require a lot more attention and commitment from their instructors. And then there's the student who rolls for the soul, and really wants to experience the change in his humanity as it's affected by the art. All are important and to quote miyamoto musashi. "You should examine this carefully."

To me a school that has multiple instructors of a high technical ability always is a plus. There's always gonna be other guys at the gym who are free rollers, who are competitive, or who just want to share their love of the game as comrades. The same is true for instructors. In Hilo little jay is great at really thoroughly going over the basic concepts and details that pertain to jiu jitsu overall. He has more time with the individual student, were bj, and reagan (who both have world titles), are great at a mini seminars but really sharpen others with their competitive spirit, and unfortunately have less time to dedicate because of their competition schedules. But it all balances out because of the different strokes in different folks, along with the next generation of black belts who continue to diversify nova uniao HI. The same is true for 10pjj. Denny, einstein, shigeki, and sean all have different styles and approaches to the sport of jiu jitsu and can really offer something unique based on that.

A great instructor leads by example. A wise man (E.B.) once said, "You need to go out there and compete. Put your ass on the line. You need to out train and out spar your students."

The secret to jj success is figuring out how to win and passing that on to your students. Almost anybody with half a brain can dissect a youtube video or instructional and show it to someone. Not everyone can inspire and show what it takes to win competitions (IBJJF or not). Like it or not, the majority of comps out there are IBJJF rules. So figure out a way to beat them at their own game. No excuses, no bs. Just my opinion.

After going through a negative instructor experience these past months I have reconfirmed that Louis is an amazing instructor and more importantly fully represents the open mindedness of 10PJJ. He inspires his students through competing and earns respect rather than demands it. I hope to get my black belt from him someday.

Good responses so far. I like that quote from Luis. I agree 100 percent.

My answer is Loooove love love :)

It is only through leading by example...that you can take your game....to a whole....nother....level.

The way he can express his art and himself, the kind of human being he is, his methods of teaching, open mind for sure, and the list goes on, but its on you how you see your instructor and how he see you.

I don't think the merit of technical ability is just based on competition but I do agree with what louis is saying. We've heard Rickson voice how the sport of jiu jitsu has changed the tactic and principle a bit in todays jiu jitsu culture, and why he's an advocate for longer time limits to try and balance out stalling and advantage wins. For this reason I like the submission only rule set.

It's always inspiring to see your teacher go out there and put his technical abilities on the line, but there's alot of great instructors who do not compete.

BJJ is NOT one size fits all, a great instructor teaches you HOW to learn, then helps you develop your own skill set that helps you best accomplish YOUR goals.

A winning team

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Originally Posted by brent_littell

A winning team

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Agreed

Looking at the trainers ive had, i think you need ot first off have a passion. you need discipline and good structure to your class and good info/ techniques. teaching in a gym is a lot like teaching in a class imo. eddie for example is an amazing teacher. he is incredibly good at jiu jitsu and as far as i can tell he loves doing it. he has control over his classes and he shows the techniques in a controlled way, first presenting what to do then getting controlled practice and then free sparring to get the students to use it in full speed. a lot of the other trainers ive had do it similar to that. present practice performance.

what ive really found good for people is when they stick with one position for a longer amount of time. we had roughly a week on one set of moves in Hamburg, and magnus from sweden has been saying they do things like back mount for 6 weeks and atm half guard for 4 weeks etc. doing one thing for that long is amazing and its really when u start seeing improvement.

and be adaptable. :)