No matter what they tell you, all BJJ coaches have their “favorites” in class.
Alright, perhaps not everyone has one or two students that fall into that category, but they for sure have their favorite types of students.
John Danaher does.
Here is what he had to say on the topic in an interview with BJJEE:
I’m happy teaching pretty much anyone; but, probably, my two favorite coaching situations are polar opposites of each other.
I love to teach the fundamentals of the sport to total beginners, and I love to teach advanced athletes the nuances that can take them from good to great.
But what about the “best” students? Naturally, he enjoys coaching them as well, but there is still one thing he cannot transfer onto them…
Passion:
Interestingly, the best students must bring to me the one thing I can never give to them – passion for Jiu Jitsu.
That must come from within them.If it’s there, they can do incredible things over time, and if it is not, then no amount of coaching will help them.
Furthermore, Danaher emphasized that, all things aside, he owes his success to the success of his students:
I should add at this point that, throughout my career, I have been blessed with many truly outstanding students who made my task a real pleasure.
All were deeply passionate about the sport and technical innovators and extraordinarily hard workers.You must remember that I never competed in Jiu Jitsu and so have no achievements of my own – I owe everything to my students.
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