"Yeah, I think you're far from alone in that. Which is part of the gauntlet's massive stupidity: I suspect a LOT of the people who really like it are in large part attracted to the whipping because they think that's what tough old school casca grossa Brazilians did. When in fact it's a US thing and old school Brazilians like Carlson Sr thought it was dumb (which I can confirm second hand, as Carlson Jr told me personally. #Namedrop ;) )."
I can second that.
Senior thought hazing was dumb.
Junior doesn't do it either.
My instructor hates it and doesn't allow it.
And this was from the most casca grossa jiujitsu team in the history of the sport.
Gist of the story:
"My fren we fight hard all the time why would I whip you?"
"Lots of questionable habits already mentioned! Personally, I've never been a fan of on-the-podium promotions. And stripes for adults. While these two are more in the spectrum of 'each to their own' as opposed to not washing your belt for example, I personally think of them as rather damaging to the sport and its practitioners. I think these two things belong in this thread about BJJ traditions because some academies / affiliations make it traditional practice to promote on the podium. While I find it a questionable practice in general, it is also interesting to me that some academies do it regularly to a point where they are known for it and others would never. To me awarding stripes to adults is similar in that aspect. Some do it religiously rarely with good reasoning and others absolutely argue against it."
Ya the podium promotion always made me uncomfortable too. Especially if the person won and extra crappy if they won by a lot . As the losing competitor you then wonder if the guy was sandbagged just for that comp and it feels crappy. It's also surprising how acceptable it is.
For instance, I lost in a final match as a white belt, the guy got promoted to blue on the podium and his coach after words came to "console" me telling me he was surprised I did so well since his guy had been a high level university wrestler.
"No one is going to say it?..... Fine, it'll be me....... What is the DUMBEST BJJ Tradition? Far and away it's this..... OOSSSSS....... Followed closely by HEEEEEY...... And lastly, The Gracie Diet (sorry Uncle Royce LOL)."
They hate oss cause they aint oss!!!! Saw this today. I thought of your post.
"As you know in Japanese = sensei, in Chinese = sifu, in Portuguese = professoe = teacher; All point in the direction of respect and are all well-meaning/intention. I'm not a fan of titles either but when someone addresses me as 'professor/sensei/sifu' I usually quickly adjust to asking them to address me by name. I do see people who abuse this though and I think this is where you're coming from, those who have 'professor' patches on their gi, etc.... *eyeroll*"
I do understand that it is a translation issue. My aunt taught English in a University in Korea. They called her professor too.
There are some „dumb“ traditions in BJJ…
„Ossing“ was never a thing at my place fortunately.
I don’t like the tradition of only being allowed to wear a „white“ Gi only at some places or seminars…. For me it’s a little bit to traditional….
We don’t do gauntlets either….
"I sure could do without the ossing and the clapping. When and where did they emerge? Nothing I ever saw in the 90:s or even 00:s."
What's up with the clapping? Are you talking about the "focus clap" (i.e. "1,2,3 clap")? Personally, I've found that if you don't do this, people just continue staring at you and don't go and do what you asked them to do.
People who are "anti-clap" are many times even more annoying since many of them spend drilling/sparring time talking about how they don't do the focus clap, why they don't do the focus clap and how awesome they are that they don't do that shit.
"What's up with the clapping? Are you talking about the "focus clap" (i.e. "1,2,3 clap")? Personally, I've found that if you don't do this, people just continue staring at you and don't go and do what you asked them to do.
People who are "anti-clap" are many times even more annoying since many of them spend drilling/sparring time talking about how they don't do the focus clap, why they don't do the focus clap and how awesome they are that they don't do that shit."
"I actually only call my teachers by their names, in both BJJ and Judo. I saw saw one of the new guys in Judo call the teacher sensei and he was visibly uncomfortable.
As for the professor thing, until I saw it in a YouTube Video, I didn't even know that was a thing. Even the clapping thing I hadn't seen until I was a blue belt. I sometimes wonder if that's more of an American thing. I've visited schools in Japan, Uzbekistan, Spain, Holland, Russia, all over the place in Germany and it's not really been a thing. First time I really saw it being used regularly was the Globetrotters Camp in Heidelberg last year, and that was mostly the classes lead by Americans."
The Judo academy I train at is the same. We call coaches by name, but are still obviously respectful (as you would be with a coach of any sport). I assume this ethos emerged from the academy being opened in the 50’s by Canadians of a novice rank. Ultimately, it created a mat culture I quite enjoy & one that we have adopted for the Jiu Jitsu program ran out of the same club!
"What's up with the clapping? Are you talking about the "focus clap" (i.e. "1,2,3 clap")? Personally, I've found that if you don't do this, people just continue staring at you and don't go and do what you asked them to do.
People who are "anti-clap" are many times even more annoying since many of them spend drilling/sparring time talking about how they don't do the focus clap, why they don't do the focus clap and how awesome they are that they don't do that shit."
I always start the demonstration from saying how much I hate clapping and finish it with the clap.
"What's up with the clapping? Are you talking about the "focus clap" (i.e. "1,2,3 clap")? Personally, I've found that if you don't do this, people just continue staring at you and don't go and do what you asked them to do.
People who are "anti-clap" are many times even more annoying since many of them spend drilling/sparring time talking about how they don't do the focus clap, why they don't do the focus clap and how awesome they are that they don't do that shit."
It IS pretty awesome that I don't do the clap, true. :P
But yeah, if people really want to clap, they'll do it anyway. My students are used to not clapping, so they don't expect it. At seminars and camps, it is always a mixture, especially as there will also be a mixture of instructors, some of whom will clap and some won't.
Meaning it becomes a running joke. Which is how I treat it, as I agree there is no need to have an extended lecture on the topic when people could be training instead.
"Speaking of wasting precious training time, can we stop with the black belt speeches? When's the last time we actually NEEDED an inspirational monalogue on competition mindset from the assistant manager at Applebee's? What y'all NEED is to clean up that garbage knee cut pass fr."
When I teach judo class, and someone claps, they get stared at (sort of as a joke) and half the class will no "no clapping in judo". But I will say something like "Go do it" so they just don't hang around waiting. When I teach BJJ we do the focus clap. Since there's a huge student overlap, it's a nice way to distinguish between judo and BJJ.
