"practice curriculum and dont do that fancy RG stuff"

[Craig Murray]

I would be pumped to train there , kimono or not

I hope it doesn't sound like I'm not. I'm extremely grateful and feel very fortunate to be able to train at Lovato's.

[Craig Murray]

If you're at a school that is fairly open, and your instructor is cool enough to let you do 10th P stuff, then it's going to be a great thing for your development. If you're at a school with a rigid curriculum, whereby even the stripes are mapped to techniques, then you're gonna be frustrated and have a hard time.

Every instructor who has seen me do any RG was positive and encouraging. On the flip side, I bet if I asked them, they would all encourage me to focus on fundamentals and forget about RG for now.

What I feel I've leanred from this thread is that it's going to be important to only use outside techniques in situations where my partner knows what's up and is cool with it.

Just dropping some RG on a bluebelt in my first live roll was a mistake on my part. I should have at least rolled curriculum with the guy and then asked him if I could try it.

My bad

[Aiseop]

I actually don't think that's the "takeaway" from this. If you are saying your instructors are cool with it, than go for it. Rolling is Randori, and Randori means "free play." It's where you go and test things out against a live, resisting partner. The "free" in your context seems to be a lot more open than some hardcore old-lineage Gracie schools, where you would be actively and consistently discouraged from trying anything outside your formal curriculum. I have about 3 of Lovato's instructionals and, honestly, he seems to love to experiment and work on even esoteric things.

[Craig Murray]

I actually don't think that's the "takeaway" from this. If you are saying your instructors are cool with it, than go for it. he seems to love to experiment and work on even esoteric things.

Well, the two major criticisms I'm hearing in this forum are "partner respect" and "you'll slow your learning".

On the "slowing my learning" front, I'm not terribly concerned. I think that will work itself out. I tend to think that if I spend 10% of my time doing RG, even if it's a waste of that 10%, if I enjoy it, it's worth it.

The partner respect this is a big one though. I'm not comfortable being "that guy" whom people think is disrespecting my partners, Lovato's approach, or anything else, even if Professor Lovato himself is ok with it.

I realize "free time" is just that, but making sure my partners are aware that I may go off curriculum and are ok with it first seems like a demonstration of my respect for them.

It just seems like a good way to maintain a good image at the gym, give no one any surprises, and pay the proper respect to anyone I'm training with.

I have every intention of continuing to work on RG with some % of my mat time. I'm just planning to be careful when and with whom I practice it. Eventually I'll find enough partners to work with who are supportive and it wont be an issue. But if I just throw RG at guys with them unaware, I may really be risking the appearance of disrespect. That is a perception I want to avoid.

Even if I err on the side of caution, that's ok with me right now. I need the bluebelts to respect me and want to work with me, and that's more important that developing a good RG right now. Eventually it will work itself out, especially if I can build friendships and respect from others BEFORE I start throwing "stuff that don't work" at them.

Aiseop, thank you for your support, I really appreciate it.

And thanks everyone who has been critical of me, I appreciate that as well.

[ben jones]

I will add this( and Im at a 10p school)
when a white/blue belt pulls RG on me and fumbles around, yanking and trying to force his foot in my face , Ill be happy to stack and grind my head into his face.
so drill it a ton first and clear the neck/ kung fu CORRECTLY

[TThompson]

For what it's worth from your responses it sounds like your personality does not fit with your gym. It doesn't mean the gym isn't great and you wouldn't learn something great either, but you personally need to be somewhere you fit and feel like a brotherhood. My gym we are extremely open minded to anything and everything whether it comes from our coach or a brand new student. Fundamentals are fundamentals 10P has theirs and your gym has its, so the only real difference is what you take away and bring to mats. "Partner respect" is everything, but when I discover something new I'm going to try during our roll, and if I cannot hit the move than I'll ask to try it after. Keep your head up because the main important thing with all of this is to have FUN no matter what anyone tells you. Everything takes time, we all were there once when started. I would strongly say though you should find a place that you can feel encouraged to do what you want and not outcasted because this is just a sport and we are all developing our own unique ways of how to learn, grow, and use the technique we are provided with. I don't know how much this helps, but remember to have fun above all.

P.S. check out the warm ups because there are a lot of "fundamentals" in there that you can drill solo to improve your basic technique.

[Kurzy]

You only get good at Rubber Guard by repping rubber guard. The more you do it, the better you get at it. If you're a beginner there is going to be a learning curve for all the basics in general but IMO there is no reason you can't work RG as you are growing as well.

[Nicholas Osborn]

I lived in OKC this last summer and most winter and couldn't afford to train at Lovato's though I'd love to, but one of the big turn offs was the no rolling until blue thing. I've never been belted since I almost exclusively train no-gi and the idea of not being able to roll killed me (Although they were very kind and told me they would work with me to get my blue as fast as possible since I have a lot of experience) As to what the blue belt said. He was offering advice, at three months and your first roll, it's rather sound advice.

Look at it like this, if you mastered the concept of an arm lock first, it will make your armlock finishes from rubber guard land at a much higher percentage.

[BigRed]

You should be trying to go for the moves you just learned. Even if it means not getting any submissions. Don't be so concerned with "winning" your roll. Its not a tournament, its training. How ever rubber guard is great tool for closed guard and you should be working on that too Just make sure you don't slack off on your fundamentals. It does not have to be one or the other. Your Instructor is right, rubber guard can hurt the knees but so can a basic triangle if not done correctly. Hopefully you can have someone who knows the rubber guard well make sure your doing it correctly so you don't hurt yourself.

[Craig Murray]

one of the big turn offs was the no rolling until blue thing.

If you go to open mats, once some people get to know who you are you can get picked up for rolls with blue belts. I've rolled 3 times now, and I'm still less than 3 months in. All three were with blue belts.

They mainly want to keep new guys from rolling with other new guys and getting into problems. I have not rolled with a white belt yet and I'm in no hurry to.

They tell you no up front, but then once they get to know you, it's kind of merit based. None of the blue belts are breaking any rules when they ask me to roll.

Also you can roll at any level if you come to the competition classes, which are open to everyone.

Finally, I'm not 100%, but I'm pretty sure that you can roll with anyone once you are 4th stripe white-belt. Which is one rank before yellow-belt. So basically once you get about 2/5 of the way through a normal white-belt progression (2/5 of the way to blue), you are good to go.