Kashiwazaki

Kashiwazaki Katsuhiko is a legendary Judo player from Japan and known as a newaza/groundwork specialist.
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He won a silver medal at the 1975 World Championships and a gold medal at the 1981 World Championships.
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He became an all-Japan champion 5 times in his weight category (-65kg) as well.
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When I started learning BJJ, learning resources for BJJ were scarce. I remember reading Kashiwazaki’s book in my early days of BJJ. It served me well enough.
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In addition to his instructions, he wrote about how he trained when he was active as a competitor.
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I don’t have this book on hand, and I’m simply relying on my memory, but in essence…
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He worked as a high school teacher and didn’t have access to elite training partners for the most part.
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He was based in a rural town. He coached the Judo club at his school, but its club members were mostly beginners.
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If I remember correctly, Kashiwazaki did a lot of drills with his students. And also shadow Judo… just like shadow boxing.
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He still became a national champion multiple times as well as a world champion.
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I’m not saying anyone could achieve this kind of result.
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But Kashiwazaki is another excellent example of what you could achieve even if your training environment is somewhat limited.
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Many people tend to look for reasons why they can’t succeed.
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And then they spend their energy on trying to justify why they are right about such reasons.
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In the meantime, you could look for better examples like Kashiwazaki (and Adam Wardzinski, Craig Jones, etc. in BJJ)…
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… and realize that your environment is good enough.
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After all, your mindset and approach to training will determine your overall growth.
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p.s. If you’re interested in what Kashiwazaki was like as a competitor, here’s a good highlight video of Kashiwazaki.