Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu just might be the most team-orientated individual sport out there.
While you step on the mats alone in a competition, you needed the time and support from your coaches and training partners to help you get there.
Unlike golf, swimming, and tennis, you can’t just hit balls or swim countless laps on your own or with your coach; you need your training partners to help practice, drill, and roll for countless hours in order to get ready for the big day.
Whether you are competing or just the training partner cheering on the sidelines, competition day can be full of anxiety. You know you care about your training partners when you get more nervous than they do on competition day.
Here are 5 reasons why you get so excited and happy when your training partners win it all!
We are all friends
First and foremost, your training partners are your friends. You can’t help but become friends with people you train with since you bond for hours on the mats.
You have also built a strong level of trust from training safely together over the years.
We saw their struggles
While your training partners look like beasts on the mats, you knew them before they got really good at BJJ.
You have seen their struggles first hand from injuries, experiments, and failures. You have seen what they have overcome in their personal lives to get to the point where they are competing.
When you have seen the whole journey, you can’t help but understand everything your training partners have gone through to get to where they are on competition day.
There is a bond formed from helping each other get better
Even if you were the new guy at the school and team, you can’t help but root for your training partner. There is something special about helping others and it is a gift that keeps on giving.
When your training partner is smiling on the podium, a piece of you will feel warm knowing you helped him or her get there.
They would do the same for you
Your friends are competing in October, but you will compete in January. You have a level of trust and understanding that you will do everything in your power to help get them ready for their tournament in October, while they will help get you ready for your event in January.
Additionally, you will be there for each other on competition day to help hold bags and water bottles, record matches, and help with warm ups. That is just part of the bond and friendship of BJJ.
It’s still about team and family
In the end, your BJJ team is like a team and family, hopefully without much dysfunction. We are social creatures and want to belong and be part of something greater than ourselves. When a good friend and training partner wins, the entire academy and team wins together.
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