From my blog (which gets mailed out in my newsletter)
ON KEEPING YOUR ENEMIES (AND HIS COACH) CLOSER
I don't remember too much from my first BJJ tournament other than that the place was packed, that there were lots of huge guys strutting around like they owned the place, and that I was nervous as hell.
One thing I DO remember, however, is an inadvertent bit of help I received in a match. I was fighting this big guy and managed to sweep and pin him. All of a sudden I heard his coach yelling "bridge him over! He doesn't have any base on that side". Although this advice was meant for my opponent he actually ended up warning ME of my vulnerability instead. I posted my head on the floor to compensate for my lack of base and he never did successfully bridge me.
This episode made a strong impression, and in subsequent competitions I always made sure not only to listen to my own coach, but also to my opponent's coach. There were many times that I had access into my opponent's brain by listening to what his coach was telling him, and sometimes those little tidbits of information made a huge difference.
Of course you should also listen to your own coach, but hopefully your coach is wording his advice in a way that isn't much use to your opponent. Little harm can come of your coach letting you know to protect your arm, or to put more weight onto your opponent, but if he's telling you stuff like "push down on his right knee and then pass to your left" then he might actually be helping your opponent instead of you!
So listen to you your coach, but also listen to your opponent's coach. It's a real life application of the old adage "keep your friends close but your enemies closer".
And if you coaching or cornering someone in a match take care what you say and how you say it. It can be a little hard to do, but try to give advice which doesn't give any useful information to the opponent.
Stephan Kesting
www.grapplearts.com
Worked against me at the Pan Ams: I jumped to guard and I heard the other guy's coach say "Great, now we got him!".
That pretty much told me this guy had a great top game and I let it psychologically defeat me...he passed my guard like a hot knife through butter.
Had I been more prepared, I could've used the "intel" to warn me about this guys good guard passing skills (or maybe it was just my guard sucked...)
This is a great point and something I have thought about often. It's like 6 of one, half dozen of another. Obviously, having your coach telling you what to do next and pointing out openings is extremely valuable in competition, but at the same time you may have already noticed it and are just waiting for the right time to strike when your coach yells it out and alerts your opponent to this weakness.
My coach used Japanese names for most everything. not many people understand "hiza gatame or sankaku garame". my first bjj match ever, my coach is yelling in Japanese, the opponents coach in Portuguese, both coaches stop, look at each other,realize they have no idea what the other person means, and started laughing.
That's why it's really cool to be a native speaker of a really minor language and understand english well:)
Great advice!
Great advice, but it has worked agaist me in one of my matches...
I was on top and sneakily getting a good grip on my opponent's ankle, and was goin to go for the ankle lock. Then I hear his coach yell, "Watch out! He's goning for the foot lock!". I could have probably jumped into the submission, but I hesitated and lost the chance....
So lesson learned for me was that I should stick with my game plan! :)
Precisely why Eddie Bravo gave stupid names for his moves and setups.
LOL Seriously, when he calls out that shit...... how many people have any clue what the fuck he's talking about?
Keep your enemies close; keep your elbows closer.
I agree with "BJJ Savate" and "BackDrop" that listening to your opponents coach can go both ways and can be a mistake especially if the coach sees what you are doing. I am always fairly detailed in the coaching of my students but I will play some phsychological warfare games as mentioned if I have the impression that his opponent is listening. It can be very distracting to his game while my students are used to it.
Laimon does the same shit.. he has all these crazy names for moves that nobody not on his team is familiar with.