Good Coach vs. Good Teacher

Since I started training Brazilian Jiu Jitsu in 1998, I have watched lots of grappling instructions, visited different schools, and watched lots of coaches at tournaments.  When examining different Mixed Martial Arts or BJJ programs, its important to distinguish between COACHING and TEACHING.

When someone is referred to as a good teacher that usually means that so-and-so is able to speak clearly and coherently about the particular topic and also notice and correct errors and misconceptions that might arise from his teaching.  A coach’s role goes beyond that of a teacher and might or might not include actual hands-on teaching.  Although teaching and coaching are inextricably linked, excellence in one does not necessarily equate to success in the other.

There are lots of BJJ instructors who you watch teach and you are stunned at their eloquence and clarity.  But then you look at the last ten years of BJJ, MMA, and No-Gi results and members from their team are conspicuously absent.  On the other hand, you can sometimes visit a school and be utterly unimpressed with the teaching and yet year after year, that program produces talented grappler after grappler.

A scenario to think about…

After Alliance outpointed Gracie Barra in the World Championships a few years ago, one of the heads of Gracie Barra commented that it was because Alliance had made an effort to secure visas and sponsorships for its top athletes so they could afford to come to America and compete. This same situation applies to talented athletes and especially to those involved in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. It costs a lot of money to get to the big tournaments and if you can’t get to the game, you can’t play.  The point is not that money is more important than quality training for an athlete’s development  (its not) but that at a certain point, a coach needs to expand its focus to more than just teaching to bring his athletes to the next level.

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