Coaches Guide

If you haven't read it yet, please first read our pedagogy article: GJJ Pedagogy

This is the main reference document for coaching at Golden Jiu Jitsu. Read through it fully when you start the coaching program, and come back to it periodically as a reference while you develop as a coach.

How to use this guide

Each module follows the same flow:

1. Listen to the assigned podcasts first. They provide context that makes the written sections land better.
2. Read the module sections.
3. Complete the quiz and think through the reflection prompts.

Work through the modules in order. Later modules build on earlier ones.

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Modules

1. Philosophy & Mindset: Why coaching BJJ is hard, coaching vs teaching, accepting that students will struggle, and improving through reflection.
2. Training Activity Spectrum: The three training categories (designated winner, FYJJ, games), when to use each one, and how to protect the room's energy.
3. Controlling Resistance: The constraint ladder, smooth resistance, and how to adjust difficulty across the entire spectrum.
4. Game Design Principles: Why games work, the cost of failure, play vs fight mode, the PLAY framework, and creating your own games.
5. Designing Games for Class: Designing constrained games, communicating rules, perception cues, and the drill-to-game pattern.
6. Coaching in Real Time: Preparing for class, less is more, student assessment, changing games based on what you see, and staying engaged.
7. Communication & Feedback: Training athletes' perception, internal vs external language, speaking in a common language, and giving feedback.
8. Culture & Environment: Enforcing gym culture, getting people to chill out, welcoming newcomers, modeling vulnerability, and establishing purpose.

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Program-specific coaching guidance

For guidance specific to the program you're coaching, see:

• Coaching Kids Classes
• Coaching by Program: Fundamentals & Intermediate (coming soon)

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Resources

Books:

• Rob Gray, How We Learn to Move
• Doug Lemov, The Coach's Guide to Teaching

If you want to read either, let me know and I'll buy you a copy. I'll also give you $50 per book for reading it and talking to me about your favorite parts.

Rob Gray also has his own podcast (not the best produced, but often informative): Perception & Action Podcast

All podcast episodes referenced in this guide: