The Big Topic

As you may have read in my post the other day, there has been some intense debate in the comments section over a process that happens at our school called "the welcome". Dev and Georgette recently both posted blogs about their views on the welcome, but I am worried that the wrong impression is being made of Fabio's school.

I spoke with Fabio and am going to explain what my understanding of his philosophy is on rolling and on the welcome. I hope this clears everything up and gives you a better idea of what happens at our school.

Also, let me say that if you go to my school and are reading this blog, feel free to correct me if I am wrong at any point. I am going to try to explain this the best way that I can.

There has been a lot of talk about what the welcome is. Let me explain it to you as best as I can, from my experience. When a new person comes in, having no knowledge of what Jiu-jitsu is about, they are taught three basic submissions (an armbar, an americana and a rear naked choke) and then they are put with higher belts to grapple.

The higher belt's job is to give them a "welcome". Most of the time at Fabios, higher belts who roll with people who are lower than them will roll and catch submissions and hold them, allowing the lower belt time to work out an escape. The difference in the welcome is, the higher belt doesn't give them the time to escape. They just finish the submission. They do this throughout the first grapple with the person.

The goal is to submit, not to hurt someone. When I talked to Fabio about it, he said there is a reason why only people who have their blue belts or higher do the welcomes. Firstly, the people who he asks to do this know how to roll with someone and get submissions WITHOUT HURTING someone.

Here is what a welcome is supposed to look like. A person comes in and grapples a higher belt. They are going as hard as they can against the higher belt. The higher belt is supposed to stay relaxed and calm, and to submit the person without having to spazz out and go insane.

In the welcome, the goal to make them tap. Not to hurt them. It is supposed to be a demonstration of skill, not a beating. It’s to show the skill level, not to hurt people. The only injury someone should walk away with after a welcome is maybe a hit to their pride. You can't come in and learn Jiu-jitsu if you have pride. As Fabio said, "When pride goes in front of you, you get hurt." That’s why the higher belts come roll with brand new whitebelts who have no control. The higher belts can submit them in a safe way and teach them to calm down, without leaving bruises.

Getting rid of pride is not the only reason why the welcome is done. The other reason why is to inspire people to see the skill level they can achieve if they come back and keep learning. What usually happens during welcomes is people are impressed with how many times and how many different ways they were submitted. They don't come off the mat injured (though, as in any school, there are some ACCIDENTAL injuries that happen). They come off the mat impressed by the fact that, no matter what they tried, the person they were rolling with was able to not only fend them off, but the get into a dominant position and make them tap.

All of this stuff about trying to pop elbows and ankles is not how it goes. The people at our school are not trying to rip people's limbs off. It is not about the pride of the higher belts. It is not about trying to beat someone up. It is showing them what Jiu-jitsu is.

When I was first talking about the welcome with some people after all of this conversation started up, I told them, "I don't think I ever got welcomed." But now that I look back on my first day, I know I did. Let me tell you how it went.

I am an average sized girl with no martial arts background before Jiu-jitsu. When I came into Fabio's, I was put with several higher belts to grapple. As terrified as I was, not knowing anyone and not having much experience, I thought I was going to get a beat down. I did get owned, but I remember laughing because of how ridiculously I was flopping around and about how ineffective all of my attempts to do anything were. I never felt like I was in danger. When I was submitted, it was never a rough, crank submission. I left thinking, "Man, those guys were good." and also, "Man, I have to work on my base." Everyone I rolled with told me encouraging things after the grapple and gave me pointers on where I could improve.

I had a blast. And I came back craving more.

That's the whole goal of a welcome. Not to hurt someone. It's to show them what Jiu-jitsu looks like. Jiu-jitsu is described as the gentle art. Welcomes are not supposed to be knock down drag out fights. Welcomes are supposed to be higher belts showing a new person what they can aspire to.

As one of Fabio's blue belts, sometimes I am required to give a welcome when a new girl comes in. I will admit that sometimes I struggle with wanting to do them, but that is mostly because I worry that won't be able to represent what a blue belt should look like well enough. That is my problem, though. I also sometimes feel bad about submitting people, especially when it is someone who doesn't know anything, but that's my personality in general. I still say "I'm sorry" to people who have been grappling there as long as I have whenever I try to do a submission. People at my school make fun of me for that all the time. When I told Fabio I felt bad about submitting people, he told me, "You're not trying to hurt them. You're showing them where they are making themselves vulnerable."

They stick out their arm, I catch it. They expose their neck, I take it. I don't crank any submissions. And if they resist a submission when I have it, I DO NOT crank it until it pops. I let it go and go for the choke.

I can tell you that NEVER in ANY welcome I have done have I EVER tried to deliberately hurt someone. I go for submissions. FABIO DOES NOT ADVOCATE INJURING PEOPLE TO GET A TAP DURING A WELCOME. I want to make that clear. The purpose of the welcome is the exact opposite of that. The higher belt should be relaxed and easy, showing them that the technique works no matter what they try. That is why Fabio always has higher belts--not white belts--doing the welcome.

The first day someone comes to train at my school, they should not leave feeling like they just got jumped. They should walk away thinking about how they can't wait to come back. That is what I have seen happen over and over again.

My school is not a big group of bullies going around owning newbies to puff up their egos. My school is like a big family. You come in, people are friendly. They help you. In my blog, I talk all the time about how the higher belts give me advice and help me with things. And I try to do the same thing for the people who I roll with who are of lower rank than me. We are a team, not a bunch of hot heads competing to see who can get the most taps.

There. I said my piece.

I know that even after my explanation, some of you may not agree with the idea of the welcome. I know people have different opinions about how to teach BJJ. I am still new to all of this, so I don't claim to be an expert by any means. If your opinion is different from mine, feel free to share it. But I would invite you to come to our school and see what it looks like before you make any final judgments about it. If you do come, you will find a warm, friendly place, not a den of ape-men trying to snap peoples limbs off.