Samuel Connery

Life of the Mind

Professor Lenard

13 October 2015

As high school came to an end I was upset over the possibility that my sports career was coming to a close.  I was only average when it came to the single sport I played which was track and field and knew it would be extremely difficult for me to make the team.  In order to make up for the lack of physical activity I got while playing sports in high school, I knew that I had to find an activity to keep me active.  After discussing club possibilities with my one friend Klaudia, she had suggested that I sign up for Jiu-Jitsu club.  I was reluctant at first due to the problem that I had no prior fighting experience; however, I knew that I should learn some form of self-defense in case I was ever to put in a situation where I needed to protect myself.

As I arrived in the racquetball court room where jiu-jitsu meets, I was nervous to encounter what the club had in store for me.  As I got down and began to stretch, I scoped out the competition.  They all appeared very strong and each one looked as if they had prior training in jiu-jitsu.  Luckily for me the first hour of jiu-jitsu practice involved no one v. one situations.  It was just practicing moves for different positions that someone may find himself in when rolling with an opponent.  The practicing was helpful since it gave me some basic moves to practice.  The sensei was also walking around observing the groups and giving tips on how to properly perform the moves.  The hour passed quickly, and it was then time for the sensei to leave us.  This was not the end of practice for the club.  After the hour of learning the techniques, most members stay behind to learn to roll with another opponent and apply the techniques previously learned.  Particularly on my first day of rolling, I was destroyed by my opponents.  They were able to have me tap out in a matter of seconds.  Luckily for me, all the experience fighters recognized my lack of ability for the sport and began to teach me techniques as we were rolling.  They would stop as we were in the middle of rolling and give me tips such as how to break a hold or how to perform offensive moves like an arm bar.  I found this teach method a lot easier since it was a real fighting situation.  I feel that I’m improving more and more each lesson.  The club meetings have become the highlights of my Tuesdays and Thursdays and although I’m still in the early stages of training, I believe that I’m going to stick with this club throughout the rest of my years at Stockton.