Tonight, a man came by before class. He was holding a plastic bag and asked to speak to the owner.

He told me his son was a child champion, sponsored by a gi brand. He trained at a famous academy, known for its famous founders and a certain clean aesthetic. After watching his son succeed, he decided to try it out.

The son burned out and stopped training.

The father broke his back in class so he stopped training.

He had visited to donate his gi. He said he may soon be donating his son’s if he can’t talk him into getting back to training.

Recently, I heard about someone switching schools, and I’m predicting that that won’t end well. I know that school’s demographics, and it’s not a match.

I think a lot about who I attract, and it should be everybody, but it’s not. A couple of weeks ago, a blue belt from a sport school wanted to start a trial. He did two classes and then decided to go back to where he started. While we’re not the right school for him today, in ten years we might be. The question is whether the other school will burn him out and make him decide jiu-jitsu is no longer for him.

If you’re not approaching your training with the intent of training forever, you’re doing it wrong. If your instructor isn’t guiding you toward a path where training forever is the goal, your instructor is doing it wrong.