Jan21

The Jiu-Jitsu Diaries: Day Three

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The Jiu-Jitsu Diaries: Day Three

While writing my last post, I had a bit of a revelation: What if partnering with Sensei is the problem?

When in doubt, Sensei is always the problem.

But maybe it’s a combination of me being distracted by my desire to show that man up because I’m so annoyed at him being better at me in everything, and his inability to turn off the teacher switch. Like, dude, stop telling me what to do and let me think for myself a moment. (I’ve since said this to him, and he said, “Sorry,” so we’re cool.)

After this revelation, I considered asking Instructor to put me with someone else. Then I thought better of it and decided to leave the partnering to fate.

As fate would have it, Sensei was late, so Instructor partnered me with someone else. How’d I do?

This from Mrs. Instructor. She showed up and took pictures (like the ones you’ll see below). I was delighted to see her. We shared a covert smile. Instructor doesn’t know she reads my blog.

Could it have been from me dropping the pressure I put on myself to perform well, or that I just remembered these moves better? Unsure.

After one “slice,” as it’s called, we were lined back up on the wall, and Instructor asked if anyone knew the name of the next variation. “The first one was called ‘low,’ this one is…?” He left it hanging.

Seriously? No one? “High,” I said meekly.

“That’s right. Say it again louder.”

“High!” I said. Sensei stepped out from the other end of the line up to give me a thumbs up.

“Good job, Betsy. Did you remember, or was it because I gave you a clue?” Instructor asked.

“I think it was both,” I said.

And then I jammed that high variation with my partner, a woman I just met.

Smiling as I’m about to be arm barred.

Naturally, Instructor was there when I struggled with the third slice, the triangle choke finish, because AS ALWAYS I forgot to maintain head control–I let my balloon escape. (“If you lose your balloon at Disneyland, they’ll give you another one, but there are no refunds for the triangle choke.”–One of Instructor’s best lines ever.) Rather than be mortified, I just have to laugh at myself for that one.

There were several other highlights from this class:

Instructor made reference to “WHEN I test,” [emphasis mine, but you get the significance.] He also told me he’d tested several people lately and was spending two to three hours with them PER DRILL of the five-part test. Remember how awful I felt that it took me nearly an hour to perfect one drill? Pish! That’s nothing. Maybe I didn’t suck as bad as I thought I did.

Also, Sensei wound up partnering with Thoughtful One. “He’s a nice guy,” Sensei said to me later. Yeah, I know! He was a contemporary of mine and one of my favorites. During one class in my Glory Days of Awesomeness in a Non-Ironic Way, when Instructor asked me to walk around and help other students, Thoughtful One said, “Betsy, do you want to get a rep in?” I did! I so very much did! He was earning his nickname.

So to me, this (pictured below), was delightful. It’s like when you have one good friend and another good friend. Then you introduce the two of them and they get to be friends. It was a worlds colliding in a good way feeling.

Thoughtful One getting ready to tap as Sensei arm bars him.

And finally, my old-time readers might remember how much I lived for Instructor’s approval because I respect the heck out of that guy. I even titled a post, “He said it,” when he told me he was proud of me for the first time. (Ironically, the start of that post talks about me forgetting to trap the head for the triangle finish of the very same lesson this post is about. Wow. Trippy. Also, see? I never learn.)

The next time he said, “I’m proud of you,” was when I finished that grueling drill for my belt test, mentioned above–same day I destroyed my ankle doing the double-leg takedown.

After this third Jiu-Jitsu Reboot lesson, despite letting several balloons fly off into the stratosphere, he said, “I’m super proud of you.”

I was pretty much floating in the clouds with the balloons after that. Maybe, just maybe, I’m getting my mojo back.

Especially when I’m not partnered with Sensei. Heh heh.

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56 responses »

  11. Wow, you did JJ again with an injured toe? You really are tough. Love this post because of the pictures we get. And the details from Mrs. Instructor. And because there’s another woman in the class. And because you didn’t get injured. So there’s a lot to love in this post! Congratulations for going back and having an injury free class!

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  17. Pingback: Receiving my second first stripe | Motherhood and Martial Arts

  18. Why should your sensei turn off his teacher mode? He’s the teacher. But I understand the need to think in a context where we’re supposed to just do. It takes me longer to learn physical skills than other people, which was even more frustrating in dance classes than it was in martial arts. And as a fellow writer, it is really hard for me to turn off the words in my head, too.

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    • Sensei was my taekwondo instructor. He was not the teacher here. I brought him to Jiu-Jitsu as a newbie, whereas I’d taken the class for ten months. I realize that’s confusing. I wrote about him as Sensei when I was writing about taekwondo. Otherwise, if he were the teacher of this class, he should totally be teaching. But, no. Cool that you did both dance and MA. I wish I had taken dance classes. Maybe that will be next for me. 🙂 Thank you for commenting!

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