You’re a BJJ instructor, coach, or maybe even a professor. You put your heart and soul into teaching your students, into making them grow as athletes (and, in the process, as people) – and there’s scarcely a thing that you’d rather do than that.
However, it sure can feel like an emotional wreckage when a long-time student not only leaves you… But leaves you and opens up a new BJJ academy, stealing your own academy’s students along the way.

What are you supposed to do in a situation like this? Professor Ryan Young from Kama Jiu-Jitsu, a professor with many years of teaching experience, gives a couple of words of advice.

WHAT TO DO WHEN A STUDENT OPENS A NEW ACADEMY & STEALS YOUR STUDENTS

Professor Young emphasizes that this sort of a situation (and similar ones) have happened before. And do they feel ok? Well… Of course not. But is leaving your academy and opening a new one, while stealing students, illegal? It isn’t.
So, what he recommends you doing is not getting angry. Not being mad about what happened; but, instead, to try and learn what is it that they’re doing differently.

That is to say: what is your ex-student doing differently, that attracts your students to join his new academy? What sort of a value does he provide that you don’t, that gives him an advantage?
As soon as you figure this one out, you’ll be well on your way to reinforce and upgrade the services in your own BJJ academy… Which will not only make more students stay with you, but it will also mean that more people will start training under your tutelage.

Watch the video below to get more insight into Professor Young’s opinion: