Mandatory mat time to roll?

[Craig Murray]

As a whitebelt, it's the whitebelt wrestlers that scare me. Highly trained for power, aggression, explosiveness, competitive instinct. All great traits, but dangerous when applied in context with zero JJ experience against other people with little to no JJ.

If you keep the newbies rolling with upper belts, it's probably much safer than if you let the new guys roll with other new guys.

[ben jones]

I generally agree although personally I prolly wouldn't have kept an interest if I didn't get smashed
Proving its effectiveness
Maybe I'm just a hard head

[Craig Murray]

I generally agree although personally I prolly wouldn't have kept an interest if I didn't get smashed
Proving its effectiveness

Yeah I think a lot of it has to be individualized. For me, I knew exactly what I was getting into. I knew all about JJ before I stepped on a mat, no one needed to show me that it was legit or that I was helpless against it. Other guys might come in with competitive wrestling, no martial arts, and only a vague understanding of what JJ might be. Some people probably come in very skeptical.

For some people, having a purple belt tap you as many times as he can for 5 minutes might be the best possible thing to both demonstrate what JJ is, and show the guy that he's helpless against someone who's skilled.

Just depends on the student I think.

I really think the danger comes with newbies roll with newbies. In some cases it's probably fine, but two guys who don't know what they're doing who start escalating their roll as they get more frustrated and aggressive with each other... that's bad news.

[Sean Marshall]

The first mma school in my area was a csw affilliate. Not sre if this was the instructors way or a csw structure at that time. I think people would just watch the first night. Then just grapple for position with everyone for a while. I forget how long, maybe a week or 2. Couldve been longer. we were all white belts starting at the same time, so we took everything really slow, but it ended up locking the old csw fundamentals in my head forever.

[FRANK BARCA]

Bobby,
I only let whites roll after around 6 weeks of heavy drilling warm ups, to avoid these situations. All the while, I am giving them healthy examples off the bat.

Secondly, if I have a drop in who is a white belt or even a blue, I monitor them carefully when they attend my classes. I look out for spazz type behavior and healthy habits durng live drills. I even tell them. " Hey dude, its not ADCC so be technical as possible to hit your spots not recklesslessness, take care of each other". You know what I mean. I literally put a guy out the other day for being a dick. I literally felt like he was trying to end my life I swear to god. So I let him have it to put him in line. He wasnt happy. Shit happens!

He had been terrorizing everyone even in basic drilling. Now, I do not condone such behaviour, but all bets were off after he slapped me around so I went full retard on his ass. I believe its avoidable. Through careful monitoring and gathering a little history at the beginning helps too. You can tell if they are a little unstable. You have to watch out for rogue players who just hop around dojo to dojo. They will scarifice all your team if you know what I mean, so make it clear from the start, that they won't roll today if they have been reckless in live drills, as there are things to learn but next time maybe. That way, it kind of takes the heat out of them. Or I will put them with my killers and it sorts itself out.

Personally I dont care either way for me. I roll with everyone who walks in the door, but my students can get a real weird experience and maybe even reconsider things, if a tool walks in and literally rolls like its life or death. It can hurt your team.

THese are extreme cases but I always like whites, who are ready, to roll with colour belts, so it takes the juice out of them and has a calming effect on them.

Hope it helps

[FRANK BARCA]

DO tell

Bobby, call me and I will tell you how we do it. It has worked out really, really well for everyone.

[Slick Rick]

What other gyms practice this? Does your gym allow you to roll on the first day?

I'm definitely thinking of regulating white on white rolling and would just like to hear other gyms philosophies on the subject. I definitely direct their rolls when possible, but since I am constantly rolling, every now and then I'll see two white belts having a kumite. Negligent on my part. I've always been old school trial by fire "if you're on the mats you're Rollin off" mindset. Injury prevention is a huge priority with me, but so is progression. The fact is that all badasses take risks, and I like to encourage it. Even though it is a form of combat we train, non-athletes sign up all the time. It takes a while to develop a body that is structurally sound for combat from scratch- But everybody wants to roll..

How many classes should be required to safely participate in free roll?

Let em free roll from day 1. Just let em roll with a higher belt. If that's not available, have em do 50% drills on up to 100%.

[bobby rivers]

Brandon, I smashed my nose bone through my face again so I'll call ya when I can talk better:^(

Frank, this is exactly what I (kind of) do. They can roll with me or Scotty at first. But it's just crazy how the most laid back dude can go full retard during free roll. For them it's the fight of their life, for us, it's Tuesday. I just want to prevent unnecessary injuries if possible. Thank you for your response.

Rick, I have always let everybody roll me or a Scott from the beginning and have had them tell me this is why they stayed. It's pretty much the reason I started this thread. But when classes get to big to monitor, I was thinking of issuing a mandate. I'm just gonna communicate with my best guys and have everybody on the same page. Pretty sure it's similar to the convo I'll have with Bran.

[FRANK BARCA]

My pleasure