One benefit of working at your universities smallest athletics centre’s front desk is that barely anyone uses it. Today for example one taller female student was using the tread mill and two male students rolling on the open mats. This specific gym was called Collen’s athletics and martial arts centre. Its distinguishing feature was that half of its floor space was occupied by mats meant for martial arts. In the past, the university had hosted a prestigious wrestling team and many other clubs used the space recreationally. Nowadays only students like the two Brazilian jiujitsu practitioners currently on the mats visited and only because they knew the space would be empty. Those who frequented the centre knew another interesting fact, that it happened to be attached to a military training centre which was why, you might occasionally see off-duty soldiers training in the facility. I focused back on my desk, the true benefit of working here wasn’t the fact that no one used it, rather it was a consequence of that fact; the ability to do schoolwork while getting paid.
“C’mon Allan focus up” I urged myself. I was in my final year of a combined Maths and Economics degree. While I was above average in both subjects according to grades, the principles of economics had always stuck with me since childhood. They played well with an aphorism and subsequent philosophy my mother had taught.
“Maximum efficiency minimum effort.” She would always tell me. While the core principle behind the phrase had little to do with market forces the ideas behind efficiency and cost had come to me naturally. Today for example I was working on my term project for Econ 431, a focused seminar on economic research methods. It was a pre-requisite for any economics major and while it mainly focused on how to apply techniques learned in lower-level classes it was unique in its evaluation standards. We would have to write a small thesis and present it to the class, this thesis had to be about research in a field we had experience with. We would have to collect legitimate data on a specific economic sector or market and analyze it. In essence, I had to pick a market I liked and write a report using statistics and logic to describe the probable trajectory of the said market. I knew that most people had picked from large and growing industries like tech or entertainment since they would have lots of publicly available data to use. None of that had been particularly interesting to me and so I went with a unique take on the assignment, I would write about the rise and decline of the commercial martial arts world.
The paper’s topic itself would be relatively standard with a discussion on the success of Brazilian jiu-jitsu and the failure of other grappling sports in modern America. It had a lot to do with how well BJJ commercialized itself and how it was far more approachable for new practitioners of all ages when compared to other martial arts. The interesting aspect of the paper was the data I had available. My mom after all taught and owned her judo studio which on off days hosted the most popular BJJ club in the city. Having access to his mom’s opinion on the industry and firsthand financial trends over the last two decades was making for a far more personal paper. As I was considering the best way to explain the reason for past shifts in consumer attitudes the gym’s sliding doors opened and I raised my head to address the approaching person. To my surprise I recognized him.
“Hey Allan, working hard?” The newcomer smiled as he spoke, with a teasing look on his face.
“Very hard Daniel” I responded with an air of feigned exhaustion. Daniel was dressed in jeans and a nice flannel atop his white shirt; strung on his back was a large athletic bag. Stopping at the counter he took a look at the sparsely occupied mats.
“Feeling up to some sparring today, Allan?” Daniel asked without looking away from the mats. He knew my answer before I gave it and he asked anyway, he had always been annoyingly persistent like that.
“Sorry, I’m too busy with this today.” I waved my hand in the direction of my laptop. I had said no every time he had asked over the last few months. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to fight him, he was my best friend and we had been rivals since elementary school. If anything, he was the one who almost made starting again worthwhile. No, I was retired from competing. I only taught with my mother now and only because if I didn’t, I’m not sure I would have a home to go back to after that argument. Daniel frowned for a few seconds before a smile renewed itself, it was a smile that always spelled trouble for me.
“I bet those guys would roll with a judoka for a while. They can work on their takedowns.” He said happily.
“Daniel don’t ple…” I started.
“Hey, you were busy with that” He nodded towards my laptop and continued.
“This here is none of your business.” He started changing then taking off his casual clothes to reveal a rash guard. His jeans and shirt were replaced with a blue Gi, the traditional wear of judoka in the off-colour competitive style. He tied his belt in a style and with a speed that only someone with years of practice would be able to match. Then he strolled through the empty mats to the now resting martial artists and introduced himself.
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“Hey, my name is Dan I was wondering if I could roll a few rounds with you guys?” Daniel had always been the extroverted-social-friendly-guy that I could never match socially. Both the guys looked up at Daniel and seemed to note both the style of his belt and the colour. Being a 4th dan black belt meant a lot to people in the judo world but it also wasn’t something someone outside of the community would know or be able to know about just by looking. Sensing an opportunity to disrupt his plan whatever it was I took a risk and yelled over to them.
“Be careful guys this guy is in contention for the Olympics.” I hoped this might dissuade them from participating in his plans.
“Oh, really dude, that’s awesome, judo, right? We would love to, just don’t beat our asses too hard.” The one on the left laughed up to Dan. My gamble had failed spectacularly, and it looked like these guys were more training for fun and growth rather than the ego-driven fighters who would always avoid a match they likely wouldn’t win.
The first roll went about as well as I expected, Dan’s opponent the one who had spoken up earlier had likely never done much standing grip fighting. Dan ended up with an easy grip on one of his hands and the other hand on the back of his shirt. For a moment they were locked together with similar grips neither moving. Then Dan started moving his legs backwards. With his strength, he had almost full control and with an unnecessary amount of flair pulled his opponent forward shifting the weight off of his heels. The moment he was off balance, Dan while maintaining his holds rolled backwards to the ground. In the same motion, his foot was placed onto his opponent’s hip, and he pulled. Levering his opponent forward flipping him in a circular motion through the air. He landed hard and by the time he had recovered from the sudden flip Dan had transitioned to groundwork. Almost immediately he was put into an armbar. Happy to demonstrate a healthy adult mindset his opponent tapped immediately and was all smiles. He asked what the technique had been called and several more questions Dan said nothing at first but after a little more pressing he said.
“Listen I could teach you but that would be a waste.”
“How so?” The man asked in response, definitely eager to improve. By now I had looked back at my laptop despite that fact, I knew Daniel was smiling at me again.
“Over there you have a judoka named Allan, he is almost as good as me but, he happens to have ten or so years of teaching experience which I happen to lack.” I pretended not to hear them and kept working.
Shortly after, the second bout began. Dan’s opponent afraid of being pulled like his friend, decided to stand in an upright position with his hands raised. The traditional bent forward position used by BJJ practitioners and his buddy alike was abandoned in an attempt to adapt. I and many others would tell you that this was a mistake. To avoid the throw used prior he had assumed the most standard of neutral positions for a judoka, a position Daniel was infinitely more experienced with. Daniel moved quickly and pressed forward looking for a grip on each hand, he resisted and after baiting his opponent to step perpendicular from him by leaving his sleeve unguarded, he got his opponent in the open leg position he was searching for. From there the one arm he had now managed to grab became the fulcrum for a pinned shoulder between bicep and forearm. From the pinned shoulder a throw followed in the same half-second. This throw got his opponent's feet pointed at the ceiling before he was break-falling onto the mats. The throw and setup were incredibly high level and to top it off he rolled out of the throw and stood up in a singular dramatic flourish which was something I deemed entirely unnecessary. Since they were ostensibly sparing under jiu-jitsu rules the throw itself would not have been enough to “win” however, everyone present knew that if Dan had wanted to finish the round with a transition instead, he could have. Rather than continue the match his now recovered opponent sat in a cross-legged position and started speaking.
“You can’t come in here; flex these cool techniques and not demonstrate how they are done.” Daniel raised his hand to his face and dawned a contemplative look.
“I’d be happy to demonstrate but, I can’t show you the technique's many nuances if I am doing it to you. Try getting Allan over here, I am sure he would love to help us out…” Daniel announced. Now I know I could have avoided this whole situation by insisting that I was truly too busy but, I also knew that my current strategy of ignoring his requests was swiftly becoming unviable and so I decided then that I could concede some ground today.
“If I help you with a short demonstration, will you drop it,” I asked.
“Give me one live spar and I won’t ask for a week.” He immediately responded moving from request to bartering in an instant. It was clear to everyone in the room now, he wasn't the least bit interested in teaching. Well, two could play at the barter game.
“A month of no requests and you buy me lunch tomorrow.” I counter-offered.
“Two weeks and lunch but, only if you win,” Daniel argued.
“Fine, then.” I didn’t want to participate in this whole charade but if it would get him off my back for a while and if we could just talk about other things for once, then it would be worth it. With the terms decided I went to retrieve my white Gi. The two other men sat off to the side, waiting awkwardly.