Originally Posted by
Craig Murray
Brandon, perhaps we just have a miscommunication. I have mad respect for your skills, and the skills of MANY people who train in small groups, obscure places. I'll be training the rest of my life and I'll probably never get to the level you're at already. But being a really strong grappler is very different than earning gold in the most prestigious international competitions.
How many 10p people have even competed in ADCC worlds, let alone medaled, let alone won? It's really really really really hard to get to the very top podium of the top tournaments in the world. Almost every single person who gets there has training partners who also compete at that level. I'm really surprised this idea is so controversial.
I agree that if you want world championships, you need destroyers lined up against you every day. My issue is with people believing that a guy who wins a tournament always has the best Jiu Jitsu. Knowledge can be racked up and refined from anywhere in the world. Winning a tournament (and in a lot of cases, even one match) has a lot more in play than simply the quality of your Jiu Jitsu. You gotta be a savage athlete, strong as an ox, and let's be honest here: you probably wanna do steroids, as well. Competition is a completely separate skill set.
Also, what I believe as far as myself is that I could have been one of those fast Black Belts, yes. Not with HIGHER LEVEL coaching; with ANY coaching. I can call on Eddie, Herzog, and many others at any time. I get to train with them regularly. But I've never had a coach oversee me day to day. Would have been amazing; I didn't have that. I'm incredibly proud of that fact, though, and I wouldn't trade what we have here for any situation in the world. So when someone insinuates that our Jiu Jitsu is inferior, whether because we are 10th Planet or because we don't have current world champions, I take it personally.
I know you didn't mean any disrespect. I just think there are probably things about the process that you don't understand yet.
It always comes back to the individual. Does this guy have what it takes to truly pursue excellence? If yes, he will find excellence. Because I assure you that there are many, many students at Atos, Alliance, and every other team who aren't world champions and never will be. Why is that?
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