Frustration with coaching

Mr. Switch

Mr. Switch

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The other night I was sparring with a guy newer than me and (perhaps being cocky) I figured "hey- this guy shouldn't be amazing because he's just started, so I tried a sweep I'm not very good at partly let him get me in side control so I can work escapes. He gets there and I escape to half guard. He gets out of that a little easier than I expected and goes straight to mount (at which point I realise my mistake). At this point a purple and a brown belt who usually give me a lot of help on the mat start coaching.

Now first of all may I stress that these two guys have helped me so much it's untrue. If I ever stop sucking enough to win anything or get promoted a belt I'll owe them a lot. I have no doubt that they are much more experienced and knowledgeable than I. But good God did the coaching make it 100 times more difficult. Firstly I couldn't really concentrate on what I was doing because I was actually distracted by what they were saying (and trying to do it). It confused the hell out of me.

Secondly, when they say to me: "don't let him push your elbow up for the armtriangle" he hears "push his elbow up for the armtriangle." So it's really doing a great job of telling him what I'm trying to do (which I was trying to do already). I know I should be able to do it even if he knows it's coming but it still makes it more difficult.

The last thing is that rather than just resting there for a second, thinking about what I was doing, formulating a plan and executing that plan... all I can hear is, keep moving, bridge this way, do this do that. Then I gas. I realise how this one is my own fault.

I either need to learn how to listen better or ignore them altogether sometimes.

Anyone else got/had any similar problems? I'm genuinely unsure of how to approach this. Constructive criticism appreciated.

Cheers.
 
i absolutely hate it when people try to "coach" me. i even hate it more when a lazy person hovers above me and rains on me with their coaching.
 
hehe yeah often i get bad coaching, sometimes my instructor (a bb) even gets things wrong, telling me to turn to my knees when it's not possible etc...

on the flipside, often we have little jokes like i'll get in someone's de la riva guard and go "hey wil, what's a good de la riva guard pass! quick!" and he tries to explain a pass to me while i'm trying not to get swept and pass at the same time...

it's all in good fun really, you just have to be selective with what you do.

EDIT: and learn to ENJOY rolling! it sounds like you're frustrated because the roll didn't quite go your way.
 
Coaching, especially in an environment where the other guy doesn't have a coach to listen to, can cause issues like that.

Use it as best you can - are they showing you an opening you hadn't thought of before? This is good, even if the guy is aware. Fake it and then go for your original thought. He'll be expecting you to commit to what is being coached and focus on defending that, in theory ;\

re: getting things wrong - it may well be possible, just not at your level! Another problem though is not knowing *exactly* how things are positioned, so you make a guess. Often times, hey, it's just not possible. No sweat.
 
For the TS, I think you're overreacting a little bit to a rolling session that just didn't really go your way. It can be frustrating to go against newer opponents and not have your game plan work out the way it's supposed to.

I would say that you just need to listen better while being coached. When things aren't going your way, it's easy to point the finger and say "he told me to do this that's why I lost".

All in all I think this is a real positive experience for you. This is an example of a rolling session where things didn't play to your plan and you were being encouraged to adapt and think outside the box. The advice of "keep moving" and "don't stay flat" is great in the sense that it is pushing you out of your comfort zone. Maybe the higher belts see that you're being too relaxed or lazy from the bottom and they're pushing you to have a more active bottom game.

In any event, listen more and take outside advice better, even if you can't see the immediate benefits of it. Good luck!
 
Who cares, just ignore them. I've had people at my gym coach higher belts than me while I'm facing them, and I've had the opposite. They really shouldn't be affecting your game.
 
It is very natural to be a bit confused when you first start hearing the coaching. It is something that you have to get used to. You get used to blocking out everything but your coach's voice, knowing that your opponent can hear, too, so you have to react that much faster (or hope he is blocking out everything but HIS coach). Then the "jiu jitsu dyslexia" (as I like to call it) kicks in. This is when you hear "Upa to your left" and you go right, etc. You'll get used to that, too.

Just give it time, relax, and try to go with it. Once you get your rhythm, you'll be fine. Just remember, everything has an adjustment period.
 
guys just relaxe
you're there to learn. It's not about people parenting you or telling you what to do. When I roll with someone and they're on top of me and I have any difficulties, I don't mind at all if they help me out. We're training partners and we're there to give back to each other. If I was competing and my opponent was being cocky and telling me how to roll I would find that disrespectful. But because of the context that I'm in an environment to learn I don't mind at all.
 
I sometimes coach guys rolling, but it's usually always really basic and obvious stuff like 'don't forget to breath' or if the position has stalled for a really long time, and they're obviously in stalemate, I might give one guy advice for how to break it, but I can really see how coaching could turn into something confusing and annoying and I try not to do that for sure.
 
Get over it. The more that you can learn and apply from purple, brown, and black belts, the better that you will be. If the guy taps you out while you are learning, who cares?
 
its always fun when im rolling against a brazilian guy and the instructor comes over and starts coaching his fellow countryman in portuguese and im like omg help me too! :icon_chee
 
I don't mind people coaching from the side as long as they are higher belt.


I hate white belts giving advice to my opponents and "God forgive me" white belts that try to coach me from the side.
 
Are you worried you might learn something from them?
 
In the past everybody litle more advanced than others had a saying in coaching... So 2-3 guys were giving instructions to the other inside the Mat... ...well we decided as a school that no-one talks and giving instructions besides the coaches... Becouse it confuses people during the game and training... Not that we are very strict to this, but at least you don't see a crowd giving all kind of advices while other people roll...
 
Mr. Switch said:
The other night I was sparring with a guy newer than me and (perhaps being cocky) I figured "hey- this guy shouldn't be amazing because he's just started, so I tried a sweep I'm not very good at partly let him get me in side control so I can work escapes. He gets there and I escape to half guard. He gets out of that a little easier than I expected and goes straight to mount (at which point I realise my mistake). At this point a purple and a brown belt who usually give me a lot of help on the mat start coaching.

Now first of all may I stress that these two guys have helped me so much it's untrue. If I ever stop sucking enough to win anything or get promoted a belt I'll owe them a lot. I have no doubt that they are much more experienced and knowledgeable than I. But good God did the coaching make it 100 times more difficult. Firstly I couldn't really concentrate on what I was doing because I was actually distracted by what they were saying (and trying to do it). It confused the hell out of me.

Secondly, when they say to me: "don't let him push your elbow up for the armtriangle" he hears "push his elbow up for the armtriangle." So it's really doing a great job of telling him what I'm trying to do (which I was trying to do already). I know I should be able to do it even if he knows it's coming but it still makes it more difficult.

The last thing is that rather than just resting there for a second, thinking about what I was doing, formulating a plan and executing that plan... all I can hear is, keep moving, bridge this way, do this do that. Then I gas. I realise how this one is my own fault.

I either need to learn how to listen better or ignore them altogether sometimes.

Anyone else got/had any similar problems? I'm genuinely unsure of how to approach this. Constructive criticism appreciated.

Cheers.
Click to expand...

You shouldn't be mad, this is what is going to happen in a tournament. You'll have guys screaming and telling you to do 1000 things. Your opponent will hear this and react, thus possibly taking it away. Take it as a lesson.
 
some guys respond well to coaching. some guys dont.

i had the privileged of going against Ilias Iliadis (200 Olympic judo champion) last year in Japan. His coach never said a word to him. Not during his fights, not during training randori. Only during breaks. When i asked him why; he replied that some people respond well to coaching and others don't.

If such a thing happens at such a high level then surely it can happen at lower levels too.

The coach (much like a school teacher) has to adapt his teaching to his students.

Don't get frustrated.
 
it's also kinda funny when i have someone in my guard and my teacher comes over and is like "there's an armbar, there's a guillotine, there's a triangle" and im like whatt??? i wish i could see these things too :icon_lol:
 
For god's sake, people coaching keep it simple. I don't care how good you are, you can't explain an awesome-tacular spider guard sweep in the middle of a roll.
 
lol...we tend to coach the new guys on basics...i mean i will say " his guards open"...things like that...actually telling both guys to tighten up...now when us more advanced guys roll...we coach each other...sure...but its all good...we been doing this for years, we just get excited sometimes, hahahah
relax man...its no big deal
 
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