am i over reacting or being unreasonable?

[Chris Herzog]

Exactly win that division he suggests first, then worry about moving up.

[Arman Fathi]

lol, now Zog you know I'd listen to you over any white belt haha. The only issue I have is the sandbagging.

Question: have you gone into tournaments before and gotten first place only to be accused of sandbagging? If you have, I will rescind my post. If you haven't, I'd go with what your instructor says and prove the concept before assuming it'd be a case of sandbagging. i.e. walk the walk before talk the talk. The forums can be a dangerous place. I know dudes that have been training "10" years, but maybe just got their blue or purple belt. So...10 years would appear to be a relative number. But interesting discussion. Hespect.

[ErikLavigne]

Question: have you gone into tournaments before and gotten first place only to be accused of sandbagging? If you have, I will rescind my post. If you haven't, I'd go with what your instructor says and prove the concept before assuming it'd be a case of sandbagging. i.e. walk the walk before talk the talk. The forums can be a dangerous place. I know dudes that have been training "10" years, but maybe just got their blue or purple belt. So...10 years would appear to be a relative number. But interesting discussion. Hespect.

This is exactly my point. I have done many tournaments in no gi. Had I never done a tournament I would agree with him. However, that's not the case. Now as a gi player, absolutely I agree with white belt because I am a fish out of water. My no gi game helps but I still get caught in some rookie mistakes. To me it's my reputation and ethics on the line. I'm going to go into a no gi as a beginner knowing it's a lie.

Zog, I hear ya brother and the last thing I want to do is question my instructor. I could care less about my belt, I just like to roll. But I think it's moral/ethical issue I have. Only been at this gym since February and he has preached points. I'm not a points guy, it's sub or nothing. This is kind of a tipping point for me. I want to see how my instructor acts at the tournament. If the vibe is wrong, probably going to switch to the Machado gym.

To be completely honest, I almost feel it's a slight towards 10th P. He has made comments about not using those 10th planet "tricks" come tournament time because they won't work on seasoned players. Also he has made comments about me wearing my 10p rashies lol. It started after I posted all my pics on Facebook about the seminar in Altus, OK and other students wanted to know what I learned. Just saying lol

[Chris Herzog]

Then its easy, all you have to do is win and prove him wrong.

[David Rosado]

You know, I was gonna post, but then Zog literally posted my thoughts. Trust your instructor. I held off because, well, Zog already posted it. I don't think I need to be Zog's parrot. But you are strong in your convictions. So I want to add a bit of chime in to the discussion.

Bottom line. Short version. Trust your instructior. You trained 10 years and your instructor still taps you? Trust your instructor. Your instructor feels your movements. He feels your game. He assesses where he feels you need to be. Trust your instructor. Sandbagging only matters if you intentionally put yourself in a position to sandbag. If your instructor puts you there, that's where you belong. Screw what other people think or believe. Trust your MF'ing instructor bruh.

In my believe and experience, what helps guys take off and advance ranks quickly (and what delays guys from promotion) is how well you listen to your coaches and display what you've learned. I rolled for 6 months with my own game and my own game plans. It wasn't until I literally started practicing Zog's series that I really started to take off and excelling. Still to this day. There's a reason. They put in a decade or more of hard work to know what they know. Trust them. And if you blow through your comp, then you can reassess the situation. But for now, trust your mf'ing instructor my dude.

[Chris Herzog]

...and if your referring to "Team Points", most events like Naga that give out Team Trophies give more points for placing in more experienced divisions, if he felt you had a solid chance to place in a higher division it would be in his best interest for you to fight up.

[Liquidrob]

The only option I see at this point is to quit the school, open up your own school down the street and promote yourself to a No Gi Brown belt

That's what I would do

[Chris Herzog]

So you are saying that if you compete above your level you increase your injury risk, and that the instructor's motivation is to keep his student safe? While I suppose that's possible, I believe there may be other reasons for the instructor's position. Maybe it's that, maybe it's not.

Just because someone has more experience that you does not mean everything they say is correct. Blindly following the advice of someone else just because they are more experienced is, in my opinion, unwise. I always temper anything anyone tells me with my own opinions and ideas. But maybe I'm just a bad student...

More knowledge, more experience, more time competing, better than you, knows more about rules sets has a better understanding of body mechanics and students ability, etc. Just about everything discussed they are better than you, until you get to that level you should listen to them, remember you "suck at Jiu Jitsu" so yeah, you should listen. Otherwise, wtf are you paying them for if you all ready know so much about Jiu Jitsu?

[ErikLavigne]

The only option I see at this point is to quit the school, open up your own school down the street and promote yourself to a No Gi Brown belt

That's what I would do

lol, come on now, I wasnt close to saying that. Funny though.

[john harris & sons]

That's why Zog is the dude!!! He speaks the truth with. I struggle with many questions that bother me! When the entire time not asking the man(Zog) for advice. When I finally break down & ask, his answer may not be what you wanna hear. But it's what you need to hear. We're all constantly growing(even the best). But when given advice from such people, like it or not, take it and run with it. They're who they are for a reason. And just maybe have been through what's bothering you. Just my 2 cents