Jesse Zimmerman didn’t set out to start a controversy, but a short video he shared after coaching at youth tournaments struck a nerve across the Jiu-Jitsu community.
Zimmerman says the problem isn’t the kids – it’s the atmosphere surrounding them:
I have a complaint to register with the Jiu-Jitsu community, and I don’t know if it is specific to the United States.
Every time we go to these regional tournaments, it’s a room full of dads who I swear are competing for the title of toughest guy in America.
They stand there and posture the whole damn day.
Half of them are literally flexing.
What frustrates him most is the mismatch between the behavior he sees now and the culture that first drew him to the sport:
When I started, Jiu-Jitsu it was for weirdos.
I walked in my first day and there was a dude in cut-off shorty shorts and a mullet, and a girl sitting in the corner drinking pickle juice, and both of them beat the s**t out of me.
I look around now, and it has been replaced by these absolute goobers who think they are so tough.
Let me tell you a little secret: you suck at Jiu-Jitsu.
Zimmerman isn’t sparing himself from the critique either:
I’m a black belt.
I’ve been doing this for 12 years, and I still suck at Jiu-Jitsu.There is absolutely no need to posture and act like just because you can strap on a blue belt, or even a black belt, you can actually do anything.
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