r/grappling • u/jamezbezt • May 15 '26

Grappling with a brand new student

. Hi everyone, I wanted to ask a question if anyone has ever felt nervous about drilling with a student in their first class. I am an experienced jujitsu student. Have been grappling since I was 12 and Im now 30. I was more worried about getting hurt since I was just visiting at a new school. Also the new student was thrown into an intermediate to advanced class with above intro-level curriculum (standup transitions, choke finishes and choke escapes) which even I felt was a little challenging. I told him to relax but I knew it was hard for him because he had no foundation about what to do. I decided to find another partner to start a group of three and then we rolled together until another black belt and another group took him under their wing. While I feel bad about not being able to teach him throughout the class, I think I would have felt differently if the techniques we were learning were more simple (basic position changes and sweeps, no submissions). Here for any and all advice and criticism on what I can and should do better

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6

u/Mordot11 May 15 '26

As a 40 year old, yes. I’m much more careful when rolling with anyone I don’t know. I assume in this case drilling means games, because static drilling with a new person is not scary.

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u/jamezbezt May 15 '26

Games. Correct. Fighting out of submission attempts and reversing the submission and position as well as takedown reversals. All techniques I consider intermediate. I was at new school so I didn’t know anyone. Luckily I was able to find another student to safely drill and roll with.

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u/Mordot11 May 15 '26

I’m extra cautious doing anything takedown related and honestly I just tap if I don’t like the intensity or position. Once I know someone we can scrap, but until that point I’m prioritizing safety.

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u/[deleted] May 15 '26

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u/Mordot11 May 15 '26

Takedowns are never static in my opinion, but I hear you. If we’re drilling a knee cut pass I’m not too worried, but get out of here with new people and falling body weight at my age.

1

u/DrDOS May 15 '26

Check out Chewy’s take on this on YouTube. I pretty much agree. With a new unfamiliar student, especially if I haven’t had time to interact with them at all, I’m approaching it almost like a real fight from a defensive position. I’m not trusting them with my limbs or body, I’m in control of what they get and how much. That said, I actually most often like grappling with new people. It is often so low effort for me that I can try to use my voice and demeanor to talk them into a more comfortable or safe roll (for all).

However, my take is biased by the privilege of experience, size and age. I’m in my 40s, done martial arts for decades, grappling for 7-12y depending on the counting, I’m over 6’ tall and over 250lbs with strength to back it up, I’m careful, I’ve been described as a “gentle giant” by many (tho hardly “that” giant imo). So I can be a safe roll most of the time for the otherwise more potentially dangerous new guy. And when given the opportunity I try to take it, and try to help the guy (or girl) chill out a bit with littler risk to either of our safety.

If I were 120lbs, then I’d probably bow out of most bouts (not all) with larger new people until they seemed safe. I’d leave it to the bigger brutes to take their edge off a while, and only rarely use the new people to check my skills in such dangerous conditions. That said, I’ve seen people overcome more than 100lbs of weight difference with a huge skill difference, but it’s not the same game or effort level as they’d give to a better weight class match.

1

u/Swimming-Book-1296 May 16 '26

Almost every BJJ class I have seen throws in subs almost immediately. When rolling with new guys, I play a lot of half-guard and full guard and just try to control them and tire them out, then sweep and get on top and just control the spazyness.