If you could spend an hour with anyone, alive or dead, who would it be? Albert Einstein, George Washington, Socrates, Babe Ruth, Michelangelo, Tesla, Lincoln, Ghandi, or Jesus?
What could you learn in one hour? Would you understand the lesson?
I trained with the greatest of all time in 2 different disciplines; wrestling and jiu jitsu. Dan Gable and Rickson Gracie. The lessons they taught were separated by 20 years and 2 continents. The techniques were different. The message was the same.
In 1989, as a sophomore in high school, I met Dan Gable at a wrestling camp in Iowa. I started wrestling at age 12 because my older brother wrestled. I did everything he did. I looked up to him and wanted to be like him. He was 4 years older. He was a senior when I was a freshman. He was a very good wrestler. But he quit his junior season. Girls and parties were the focus of his senior year.
It had been a rough couple years. I was a wayward ship in need of direction. I finished my sophomore season with a losing record, 7-11. I’d been pulled up to varsity mid-season and proceeded to get pinned 4 times in 2 hours at the big Christmas tournament. I’d never been more embarrassed and depressed after a competition. During conditioning drills the next week I thought about quitting.
The year before, as a freshman, I was brought up to varsity for one match, and was pinned. So now, I was 0-5 to start my varsity wrestling career with 5 losses by pin. Maybe my record of 7-11 meant some luck was heading my way. I needed it.
I had a 1.4 GPA that semester. I flunked chemistry and got a D in gym class. How does one get a D in gym class? In the off-season, I was hanging with a bad group and getting in trouble. My dad was unemployed. My mom had been experiencing the symptoms of multiple sclerosis which would go un-diagnosed for another year. I was one dead dog away from a country song.
Spoiler alert; Mom is 78 years old and still getting around with a cane and sharp as a tack. Dad retired after a successful real estate career. My older brother got his mechanical engineering degree, has a beautiful family and is semi-retired.
I ending up making the finals of the Missouri state wrestling tournament 6 months after meeting Dan Gable. Two years later, as a freshman in college, I would compete against Dan Gable and the Iowa Hawkeyes and win! A knee injury ended my wrestling career one week later.
After the injury, I focused on school and received a chemical engineering degree. I left all that in 2006 and started a jiu jitsu school that is now 20 years old. I won the jiu jitsu world championships in Brazil in 2010.
But in 1989 I was at a crossroads. Quit or continue. I needed Gable to show me something to get an edge on the competition. Gable had famously won the Olympics in 1972 without being scored on. In college, he only lost his final match. As a coach, he led the University of Iowa Hawkeyes to 15 national titles including 9 in a row in the mid-80s. The streak ended in 1986. I was meeting Dan Gable in 1989, his coaching prime. The Hawkeyes would go on to win 6 more titles under Gable, in 1991-1993 and 1995-1997. He knew what it was like to win and lose as a competitor and a coach. He had the perspective of being the best, losing the title and now trying to fight his way back to the top. In other words, this lesson would be gold.
In 2010, I met Rickson Gracie in Brazil. If you are familiar with martial arts and combat sports, you know the Gracie family. But if you aren’t, I will try and summarize the history of the Gracie family. They defined and developed jiu jitsu into its modern form. Brothers Carlos and Helio Gracie learned jiu jitsu from a Japanese master, Mitsuyo Maeda in the 1920s. Refined over 70 years, they brought this “new” discipline of Gracie Jiu Jitsu to the United States in 1994 with the Ultimate Fighting Championships. Royce Gracie was the king of the UFC.
Those of us on the inside knew that Royce had a bigger and better brother, Rickson. While Royce dominated the United States, Rickson conquered Japan, the home of martial arts, in the Pride Fighting Championships. Rickson was the family champion, the best of the best. His reign lasted from the 1980’s until his last fight in 2000.
When I met Rickson in 2010, I was older, more experienced and ready for the nuance he could bring to my game. When I met Gable at age 16, I was in awe and could hardly focus.
If you aren’t familiar with the martial arts - wrestling and jiu jitsu are both grappling based disciplines along with judo and sambo. There is overlap for each discipline. Some techniques can be used in all of the sports. There is no striking.
Back to the lessons with Gable and Rickson. These lessons were 20 years apart. At the time of the lessons these two were undoubtedly the best ever at their respective disciplines. They were separated by 2 continents. In both lessons, they taught a day 1 move from a day 1 mistake. I left both lessons disappointed, feeling ripped off and cheated. I wanted a trick, something I’d never seen, an epiphany. Clearly, these guys were holding back the good stuff. I knew everything they were showing. I’d seen these moves.
But knowing a move and mastering a move are two completely different things. The great ones spend a lifetime mastering one basic technique. If you aren’t ready for that level of commitment then join everyone else in the pyre of mediocrity. You’ll never be great. This was the lesson.
Thankfully, I was always surrounded by great coaches that stressed the basics. But, it took me years to fully embrace this concept and stop chasing the dragon of the latest fad or some magical technique. My ego wouldn’t let me accept that fate had been in my hands the whole time. There were no excuses for failure. It was only me.
Now, their lessons are a beacon in the fog of training. When I’m unsure about the direction to take my team, I think about the lessons from Gable and Rickson. It’s day 1.
You never graduate from the basic, fundamental techniques. You continue to refine the same movements over the course of a lifetime. Good luck and keep training!
Bryan
